The National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, signed into law in May 2024, remains unimplemented more than a year later.
Despite its statutory status under act No 9 of 2024, the council has yet to appoint a board, establish its secretariat unit or commence operations, amid rising gender-based violence (GBV) statistics and systemic failures.
The council was conceived as a multisectoral co-ordinating body to lead SA’s response to GBV and femicide, in line with the national strategic plan on GBVF (2020-2030) and the president’s 2019 declaration of GBV as a national crisis.
Its mandate includes setting norms and standards, overseeing provincial structures and ensuring alignment across the government, civil society and the private sector. However, its operational absence has left a vacuum in strategic leadership, with fragmented departmental initiatives and limited provincial uptake.
During a June briefing to the portfolio committee on women, youth and persons with disabilities, the department confirmed that R5m had been allocated to the council for the 2025/26 financial year. Committee chair Liezl van der Merwe described the allocation as “wholly insufficient”, adding “the budget must reflect the seriousness of the crisis we are facing”.
The department acknowledged the funding shortfall and indicated that discussions with the Treasury were ongoing but no revised allocation had been tabled.
The council’s delay coincides with broader legislative inertia in the portfolio. The strategy for economic empowerment of women, youth and persons with disabilities, published in 2024, has not been codified into law, and implementation remains uneven across provinces.
Parliamentary oversight reports cite weak institutional capacity and poor intergovernmental co-ordination as key barriers to progress.
In the absence of operationalisation, the council risks becoming a symbolic gesture rather than a functional instrument of reform.
In the justice sector, the rollout of specialised GBV courts — promised under pillar three of the national strategic plan — has not materialised. While isolated cases have seen harsher sentences, including life imprisonment for aggravated sexual offences, these remain discretionary and are not embedded in a dedicated judicial framework.
A 2025 policy paper by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation found GBV crimes were “largely unpunishable”, citing delays, poor docket management and the absence of survivor-centred procedures.
Recent legislative reforms have addressed some gaps. The Criminal Procedure Amendment Bill removed the 20-year prescription period for prosecuting sexual offences other than rape, and the Constitutional Court’s partial invalidation of the Sexual Offences Act has strengthened consent requirements. However, these reforms operate in isolation and lack the institutional support the council was intended to provide.
The department of planning, monitoring and evaluation, in partnership with civil society, launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered Living Evidence Map earlier in August to consolidate GBVF research outputs and support evidence-based policymaking. While the tool aligns with pillar six of the strategic plan, its utility depends on institutional uptake and integration into departmental workflows.
Without urgent action, the council’s promise of strategic coherence and institutional accountability may remain unrealised, undermining both the credibility of the state and the constitutional imperative to protect the rights and dignity of vulnerable populations.
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