The Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Summit kicks off in Johannesburg on Tuesday. Police Minister Bheki Chele says the DNA backlog at forensic laboratories now stands at 71,000, down from 241,000 reported earlier this year.
Earlier, the minister said that the backlog would be eliminated by October.
Chele says the department has made some progress in addressing the staggering backlog and is now aiming to clear it by next January.
Chele also says 16 contracts that had expired have been renewed and more manpower has been created in the Western Cape.
He was addressing the media in Pretoria.
“Sixteen contracts were allowed to collapse. All of those contracts are in place, and all of those contracts are monitored monthly to the point that when you have 6 months left before the contracts collapse, you start working to rebuild them so that we never go back to a situation where these contracts collapse. “The top 30 stations that have high rates of abuse and rape are getting extra money, about 100 million for those stations, so they can close the way they respond,” he says.
GBVFINdaba opens in Sandton: Mbalenhle Mthethwa reports
“Critical Challenge”
In September, stakeholders said during a virtual engagement with the All-Party Women’s Group in Parliament that GBVF remains a critical issue facing our society.
During the event, the results of the commitments undertaken by various departments and organizations of civil society last year to combat FNG were summarized. Various departments have also undertaken to fight this scourge
Departments and various organizations gave feedback on the implementation of some of the main points of the National Strategic Plan to combat FNG. The first pillar is related to accountability, coordination and leadership.
The Department of Communications and Digital Technology said it has implemented various programs to combat gender-based violence.
Deputy Director General for Management Tulisile Manzini says: “As a department, we have implemented programs in relation to GBV. There is also a need to expand these programs to include domestic violence, and as such we may need to review the financial resources available for this.”
“And that’s something we have an opportunity now as we’re also busy with our APP to make sure that’s included especially in the financial part. And the executive organizations in the portfolio can play a role in helping us raise public awareness of the existence of the bill.”
In August, the Minister of the Department of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, asked South Africa to end GBVF:
