It gives me great pleasure to table the Annual Report and Financials of the Commission on Gender Equality to this committee.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Commission on Gender Equality Act and it represents a clear landmark in the history of the struggle of women and men for gender equality and women’s rights in society. We will celebrate the establishment of the CGE in various ways.

The cornerstone of our struggle for liberation in South Africa was the mass mobilisation and mass action taken by both men and women. Two major milestones have been reached in 2006 namely, the 50^th anniversary of the Women’s march in 1956 and the 10^th anniversary of the Constitution of South Africa.

The Women’s Jail in Constitution Hill Precinct, Braamfontein, Johannesburg is now the new home for the CGE’s Head Office since May last year. Two Chapter 9 institutions namely the CLR and the Provincial Office of the Public Protector have joined the CGE in this precinct.

This move has both historical and sentimental value for the struggle of the Women’s Movement in South Africa. It culminates and epitomizes the struggle for freedom and liberation of women in a spirit of reconciliation to ensure that gender equality is promoted and maintained in our democracy.

Chairperson, the CGE has grown from staff complement of 42 to 64 members. This continues to increase to 88 staff members in the next financial year. During the year under review, we have managed to fill 22 positions. This growth has put the CGE in a better position to continuously promote, protect and monitor gender equality in our country.

The restructuring process of the CGE is now concluded and all members of our Secretariat have signed Performance Contracts which is indicative of the commitment of staff members in realizing and living the vision of the Commission. Performance Appraisals for all CGE staff is currently underway.

The CGE participated in the African Peer Review Mechanism on Democracy and Good Political Governance process along with other Chapter 9 institutions.

The European Commission has signed the Finance Agreement on Civil Society Advocacy (CSAP) with the South African Human Rights Commission on behalf of the CGE and Office of the Public Protector to fulfill their mandates effectively. In the Eastern Cape, we are collaborating with the Premier’s Office through the Premier’s Discretionary Fund programme to facilitate communities’ access to their Constitutional Rights.

The CGE has embarked on an internal review process. The purpose of the review is to make input into government processes as well as in the envisaged parliamentary review of all Chapter 9 Institutions.

The CGE constantly faces a number of challenges which are a direct result of gender inequality in our society. The most pressing challenges are:

The ineffective participation of the national gender machinery.

The gendered nature of spread of HIV and AIDS.

The lack of flow of communication regarding the reports on International instruments, namely, the Country report to the United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, leading to the lack of participation by the CGE in monitoring the International Instruments.

The advertisement published by the Department of Justice indicating that Commissioners will be appointed for a period of one year against the previous 5 year appointment is of serious concern to the CGE. This will seriously impact on the consistency of the work done by Commissioners as well as hampering the progress and momentum of the Commission.

Despite the challenges that continually exist, the Commission has had some success. Improvements include our increase in outreach to society, handling of gender related complaints and the research conducted about Gender Opinion Survey. Our budget for the next financial year has improved to R37, 8 million. We will be opening two more offices that are in Gauteng and Mpumalanga in the next financial year. This will further result in an increase of our staff complement.

Recently, the CGE has received anonymous complaints from "concerned staff" addressed to the Office of the Public Protector and which were covered by the media. The process of investigation is conducted by the Office of the Public Protector Commissioners and staff has been interviewed individually. We are now awaiting the report which will be shared with institutions directly involved with the CGE and the general public.

Our finances were well managed in the previous financial year, hence we received an unqualified report from the Auditor-General (A-G).