Question NW2789 to the Minister in The Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities
22 September 2023 - NW2789
Khawula, Ms MS to ask the Minister in The Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities
In light of the crime statistics that was released recently, which shows that the Republic is losing the battle against the sexual violation of women, what engagements has she had with her Cabinet colleagues and other stakeholders to fight the surge of the sexual violation of women?
Reply:
The department developed the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBVF) to provide a multi-sectoral, coherent policy and programming framework to strengthen a coordinated national response to the GBVF crisis by government and the whole of society.
A key activity under Pillar 4 of the NSP on GBVF is the establishment of local level rapid response teams in every municipality with clear protocols for weekday, weekend, after hours’ services and protocols for child protection to amplify the response to the needs of victims.
The Department led the establishment of multi-sectoral Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) at local municipality level. The RRTs are coordinated by the Department of Cooperative Governance whereas the department takes charge for capacity building of these coordinating structures. The main purpose of the RRTs is to coordinate, multi-stakeholder planning and responses to ensure that they meet the needs of the local community in the fight against GBVF.