Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Pinky Kekana has expressed concern at the high number of incidents in which women are brutally murdered.

“The reality is that the list is so long, I could easily spend hours going through the list of names of brutally raped and murdered women and girls in South Africa,” Kekana said on Friday, calling for an end to the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide.

Added to this, this year more than 23 000 girls under the age of 18 and about 1 000 under the age of 14 gave birth, showing an alarming 60% rise in teenage pregnancies.

“Young girls are being impregnated, highly likely due to rape in some cases, with a future of poverty and stigmatisation to look forward to. Women are being killed and disposed of as though they are waste,” Kekana said.

Taking part in a panel discussion on the role of women in rebuilding South Africa, Kekana said 2020 statistics show that sub-Saharan Africa has the most single mothers in the world at 32% and South Africa has one of the highest rates in the world at 40%.

The panel discussion, organised by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) in partnership with the Gertrude Shope Women Mediator Network and I AM South African, forms part of activities planned to celebrate Women’s Month.

Discussions were aimed at enhancing the message of social cohesion and nation building and reflecting on the contribution of women in moving South Africa forward.

“It will take 135.6 years for the world to reach gender equality, and in Africa that number is far higher,” Kekana said, adding that government’s role in any country is to create an enabling environment through policy and law creation.

Vaccination

Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister expressed concern at the hesitancy of some to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

“We are delaying the economic recovery plan. The quicker we vaccinate, the quicker we can start economic recovery, and rebuilding, which alleviates cycles of poverty and violence,” Kekana said.

She said the impact of COVID-19 on the world has been devastating, combined with decades of infrastructure and progress eradicated and destroyed in just a few days due to the violence and unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

“Recent statistics show that unemployment is more than half of our population, and vaccination hesitancy means that various levels of lockdown will continue until we reach herd immunity, preventing us from fully opening the country, delaying job creation, productivity, tourism and other economic activities,” Kekana said.

On Thursday, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister, Patricia de Lille, addressed a Women’s Month webinar, where she said government recognises that women should benefit from more training opportunities, incentives and other programmes designed to equip small-scale women farmers with information, skills and other inputs to improve crop quality and quantity.

“There is no better investment than investing in women, if we are to ensure our food security and that of the world,” De Lille said.

Food security, she said, reduces poverty – one of the most important issues in the development policies of almost all the countries in the world.

“Poverty causes human deprivation, which manifests in hunger, malnutrition, disease, illiteracy and so on.

“Food security exists when all have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet dietary needs and preference for active and healthy lifestyles. Agriculture needs land, labour and capital – the classical conditions for economic activity,”

Source: South African Government News Agency