Search South Africa News

Categories
#africa #africanews #southafrica #zapeople #zatalk ZA Top News in South Africa Regions

Initiatives afoot to empower women as part of curbing GBV, femicide

Cyril Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government is engaging in numerous initiatives to economically empower women as part of its programme to rid the country if gender-based violence.

South Africa begins 16 days of activism against gender-based violence and femicide and also marks the beginning of five days of mourning for the victims of GBV and femicide and those who lost their lives to COVID-19.

The launch of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence and femicide:

Addressing a virtual dialogue on the issue on Wednesday, Ramaphosa says the scourge of gender-based violence can no longer be tolerated and must come to an end, and empowering women is a critical step in that process.

“Earlier this year we announced that South Africa will be setting aside 40% of all public procurement for women-owned enterprises. A national procurement task team has been set up to drive this process. We are going to ensure that women benefit from governments land reform programme and have more access to land that they can use and we are also engaging the financial services sector to provide financial products that respond to the needs of women.”

Bill on GBV and femicide

He has announced that the Council for Gender-based Violence and Femicide is expected to be inaugurated early next year. According to Ramaphosa, the council will not only oversee the implementation of the government’s plan to tackle GBV but also serve as a representative body for the victims of the scourge.

“Government is in the process of drafting the bill on gender-based violence and femicide council which will be a representative body that will advocate and advance the interests of women in relation to gender-based violence and femicide but also deal with the broad spectrum of the pillars that we put in place in our strategic plan. The council is going to be inaugurated next year.”

Presidential dialogue on GBV:

The post Initiatives afoot to empower women as part of curbing GBV, femicide appeared first on SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader..

Read more here:: Latest South Africa News

Search South Africa News