Violence Against Women
Source: The New Age
The increase in cases of gender-based violence has prompted the Minister of Women, Children, Youth and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, to set up a new body to deal with the scourge.
Xingwana said that the institution would provide the necessary support structure for the government to help rescue the situation.
The minister said she would launch the National Council against Gender Based Violence in August.
Xingwana's spokesperson Cornelius Monana said yesterday that deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe would chair the council.
He said the establishment of the council was a national response to the escalating problem of gender-based violence.
Monana said the council would be formed along the lines of the South African National Aids Council, also chaired by Motlanthe. He said society needed to frown upon gender-based violence and called on stakeholders to join efforts in the fight against this crime.
In a written response to a parliamentary question, Xingwana said the country has been bedevilled by attacks on women, gays and children.
She said the violence directed against children needed different strategies to tackle the growing problem.
Government departments would collaborate among themselves strategies of dealing with the problem.
Xingwana is in discussions with non-governmental organisations and community groups to address the problem of child murders.
The killing of children in South Africa had reached intolerable levels, she said, adding that it would be important to ensure that children were protected.
She would launch the council in August to monitor the situation and deal with the scourge.
"This will be a multi-dimensional vehicle towards the eradication of gender-based violence in South Africa," she said.
There has been a spate of the killing of children in the recent past.
The government has also raised concern about corrective rape and the killing of gays and lesbians.
Monama said the council would work with government departments, the police, the Department of Justice and National Prosecuting Authority.
Monama said that the council would also conduct research into cases of gender-based violence.