MOSAIC Voices: March Newsletter 2021
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MOSAIC VOICES March Newsletter 2021 Read newsletter
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Media Statement 11 February 2021 Exclusion of GBV and femicide crisis as priorities in SONA disappointing NGO demands transparency on GBV resources and prioritisation of GBV in Budget speech Cape Town, 11 February 2021 — MOSAIC Training, Service & Healing Centre says the exclusion of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and femicide from the four priorities outlined in this year’s State of The Nation Address (SONA) is disheartening. “The President uses SONA to set out his government’s priorities for the coming year and to highlight the achievements and challenges of the previous year. Excluding GBV and femicide from the priorities in this speech implies that the lives of millions of women are also not high enough on the national priority list,” says Mchuchu- Macmillan,’ says Advocate Tarisai Mchuchu-Macmillan, Executive Director of MOSAIC, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to fighting GBV. The list of priorities outlined in the speech includes defeating the corona virus pandemic, accelerating economic recovery, implementing economic reforms to create sustainable jobs, and fighting corruption and strengthening the weakened state. The NGO says the harrowingly high number of media reports on female homicide last year gave the country moment for pause. They showed that the pandemic of GBV and femicide were showing no signs of abating, even as we were in the grip of a global health pandemic. “South Africa’s femicide rates are five times the global average, and every eight hours, a woman dies because of intimate partner abuse. It is disconcerting that President Cyril Ramaphosa did not use one of the most important days on the annual political calendar to reiterate the urgency required to eradicate GBV and femicide, says Mchuchu-Macmillan. President Ramaphosa’s speech mentions ending GBV further down in his address. “Sadly, GBV and femicide were but a footnote. We were hoping for a detailed action plan that goes beyond pledges and rhetoric to decisively and urgently tackle this pandemic of violence,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. More accountability needed on GBVF structures and mechanisms The President mentioned the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Response Fund, launched last Thursday. This private-sector fund aims to provide financial infrastructure support to those implementing the NSP on GBVF in South Africa. It is also meant to aid accountability and better governance for private sector funds, and create much needed operational and strategic cohesion between donors and government. “We don’t have clarity on which bodies will facilitate this work, but we are concerned about repeating past mistakes by setting up additional structures with little monitoring, oversight and accountability for meaningful outcomes. We need to ensure that organisations that have developed the best community-based solutions and interventions will get the financial resources to prevent and respond to domestic violence and GBV.” In March last year, a month after SONA 2020, Cabinet approved the GBVF-NSP and the establishment of the National Council on GBVF (NCGBVF) which would be responsible for implementing the GBVF-NSP. The structure of this council remains unclear. The President also did not share the progress reports made to his office about implementing targets set out in the NSP by bodies such as the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. The community-based NGO says that, while it welcomes the R12 billion pledged by the President over the next three years to implement National Strategic Plan’s various components, there is still no transparent process or decisive next steps for the coordinating structure. “There has been a lack of transparency on the governing structures that are supposed to drive the NSP GBVF agenda and little to no consultation with the civil society sector which has been at the forefront of delivering GBV services for years. There is still no clarity on whether the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide has been set up yet or what the process for setting it up will entail. If we are to have real successes in fighting GBV, we need to ensure that we centre transparency and accountability.” Demand GBV to be prioritised in the upcoming Budget speech Despite being focused on the economy, MOSAIC says the speech failed to link urgent economic empowerment and GBV. “Less than two months ago, the government’s theme for 16 Days of Activism for no violence against women and children campaign highlighted the importance of women’s economic empowerment as an integral component to eradicate GBV and femicide. However, the speech did not mention women and GBV specifically in its post-COVID economic recovery measures,” says Mchuchu- Macmillan. The NGO says it witnessed how COVID – and its resulting economic consequences – placed an increased financial strain on families, and how this, in turn, led to increased violence against women and children in many homes. “There is still a chance to re-set priorities by ensuring that GBV is included at the top of the priority list, by Minister Tito Mboweni in the budget speech week, even as the country grapples with COVID-19 and a beleaguered economy,” says Mchuchu- Macmillan. ENDS For more information, inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact: Neo Khumalo Communications consultant E: neo@mosaic.org.za T: +27 067 640 6032 (WhatsApp Calls and messaging)/ +44 7823 819472 About MOSAIC MOSAIC is a community-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works to prevent and reduce abuse and domestic violence. This is achieved by providing holistic, integrated services when incidents occur, and supporting clients through the process of healing and rebuilding their lives after a traumatic event. MOSAIC creates an enabling environment through our holistic and integrated five-pillar service model Access to justice – psychosocial and legal support provided by court support workers, and psychosocial support from MOSAIC’s Sexual Violence Counsellors at Thuthuzela Care Centres Support and Healing – Counselling Services, Support Groups and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights; Engaging Men and Boys- Training and Workshops, Support Groups and Counselling for Men Empower- Education and Skills Training, Rights Training, Youth GBV Life Skills and Community Dialogues Advocacy and Policy- Advancing rights of women and girls by providing evidence from our services to change the system. The organisation was established in
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Media Statement 11 February 2021 SONA speech thin on detail needed to tackle unabated GBV and Femicide crisis – NGO demands transparency and accountability on GBVF structures and mechanisms– Cape Town, 11 February 2021 — MOSAIC Training, Service & Healing Centre says this year’s SONA speech lacks the detail and practical solutions needed to tackle the country’s unabating gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide pandemic. MOSAIC says while President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated the ‘scourge of GBV’ (alternatively, insert any other now-regular sayings about GBV said by the president); his speech was deafeningly silent on the next steps required to eradicate GBV and femicide. “Sadly, GBV and femicide were a footnote in the president’s speech. We were looking forward to a detailed action plan that goes beyond pledges and rhetoric to decisively and urgently tackle this pandemic of violence,” says Advocate Tarisai Mchuchu-Macmillan, Executive Director of anti-GBV non-governmental organisation (NGO) MOSAIC. Lack of transparency on the administration of GBV resources The president stated that while the government and its partners had made progress in implementing the National Strategic Plan (NSP), it had to urgently divert national resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, a move that impacted GBV and femicide programmes. However, he added that government had allocated nearly R21 billion over the three years of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework to support all six pillars of the NSP. “This allocation sounds impressive. However, we need to know how these funds are going to be administered. We have the same questions about how the R1.6 billion mentioned in last year’s SONA address was allocated; it was reportedly reprioritised to support a GBV emergency action plan until the end of this financial year,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. No accountability on GBVF structures and mechanisms The president mentioned the recently launched Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Response Fund launched last Thursday (stating that… insert descriptor). The private sector fund aims to provide financial infrastructure support for implementing the NSP on GBVF response in South Africa. It is also meant to facilitate accountability and governance for private sector funds and facilitate operational and strategic cohesion between donors and government. “We don’t have clarity on which bodies will facilitate this work but are concerned about repeating past mistakes by setting up additional structures with little monitoring, oversight and accountability for meaningful outcomes. We need to ensure that organisations that have developed the best community-based solutions and interventions will get the financial resources to prevent and respond to domestic violence and GBV.” The community-based NGO says while funds have been allocated to the NSP on GBVF which was launched last year, there is still no transparent process or decisive next steps for the coordinating structure. “There has been a lack of transparency on the governing structures that are supposed to drive the NSP GBVF agenda and little to no consultation with the civil society sector which has been at the forefront of delivering GBV services for years. There is still no clarity on whether the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide has it been set up yet or what the process for setting it up will entail. If we are to have real successes in fighting GBV, we need to ensure that we centre transparency and accountability.” In March last year, a month after SONA 2020, Cabinet approved the GBVF-NSP and the establishment of the National Council on GBVF (NCGBVF) which would be responsible for implementing the GBVF-NSP. The structure of this council remains unclear. The president also did not share the progress reports made to his office about implementing targets set out in the NSP by bodies such as the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities. “At the GBVF Fund launch last week, the president mentioned that he had received a report detailing the expenditure associated with GBV-related programmes in every government department. We are disappointed that the speech did not reveal the report’s contents,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. Women & GBV absent from heavily economy- focused speech Despite being focused on the economy, MOSAIC says the speech failed to link urgent economic empowerment and GBV. “Less than two months ago, the government’s theme for 16 Days of Activism for no violence against women and children campaign highlighted the importance of women’s economic empowerment as an integral component to eradicate GBV and femicide. However, the speech did not mention women and GBV specifically in its post-COVID economic recovery measures,” says Mchuchu- Macmillan. The NGO says it witnessed how COVID – and its resulting economic consequences – placed an increased financial strain on families, and how this, in turn, led to increased violence against women and children in many homes. “As COVID-19 began to bite harder, we also had increased demand for food relief, in addition to our other sources of support.” Call for detailed GBV action plan in next week’s Budget The NGO says GBV continues to be a deadly threat to South African women in addition to COVID-19 and that government should address it with the same urgency, agility and preparation. “The president, as both Head of State and Government, uses SONA to set out the governments priorities for the coming year and highlight the achievements and challenges of the previous year. The lack of detail on GBV in his speech reporting implies that the lives of millions of women are not high enough on the national priority list,” says Mchuchu- Macmillan.’ ENDS For more information, inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact: Neo Khumalo Communications consultant E: neo@mosaic.org.za T: +27 067 640 6032 (WhatsApp Calls and messaging)/ +44 7823 819472 About MOSAIC MOSAIC is a community-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works to prevent and reduce abuse and domestic violence. This is achieved by providing holistic, integrated services when incidences occur, and supporting clients through the process of healing and rebuilding their lives after a traumatic event. MOSAIC creates an enabling environment through our holistic and integrated five-pillar service model Access to justice – psychosocial and legal support provided by court
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Media Statement 04 February 2021 Anti-GBV NGO welcomes President’s launch of GBV Private Sector Response Fund – MOSAIC lauds private sector support shown to the National Strategic Plan on GBV – Cape Town, 04 February 2021 — MOSAIC Training, Service & Healing Centre welcomes the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Response Fund launched this Thursday by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The private sector-led multi-sectoral GBVF private sector response fund aims to support implementing the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF response in South Africa. “We are encouraged by the financial support the private sector is showing to this cause because it is going to take all sectors of society to join the fight and pledge their support to eradicate GBV,” says Advocate Tarisai Mchuchu-Macmillan, Executive Director of anti-GBV non-governmental organisation (NGO) MOSAIC. “We are looking forward to seeing the impact of the GBV Fund in supporting the NSP pillars, specifically, widening access to justice for victims and survivors and urgently responding to victims and survivors of GBV,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. The NGO welcomes the spirit of collaboration by the private sector and hopes that the GBVF Fund will engage the relevant civil society sector in a coordinated approach to ensure that all pillars of the NSP are implemented. “It’s going to be crucial for the civil society sector to use all levels of engagements on a local, regional, provincial and national level. We have to keep in mind all the best practices developed over the years while rolling out funding. We must ensure that we are using community-evidence based practices that fit each community’s context to respond to domestic violence and GBV,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. The community-based organisation works to prevent and reduce abuse and domestic violence by providing holistic, integrated services for the healing and empowerment of women through support services, access to justice and training. It recently extended its court support programme operating days from three days a week to five days a week in six courts in the Western Cape. It hopes to extend its services in all the courts it serves in 2021. “The launch of the GBV Fund is truly heartening. We could not have justified telling millions of women and girls long-suffering under this pandemic of violence to wait for the country to first tackle COVID-19 before giving them a tangible, adequately funded national response to GBV,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. An independent board, accountable to several structures including an Audit Committee, is set to manage the GBV Fund. ENDS For more information, inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact: Neo Khumalo Communications consultant E: communications@mosaic.org.za T: +27 067 640 6032 (WhatsApp Calls and messaging) About MOSAIC MOSAIC is a community-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works to prevent and reduce abuse and domestic violence. This is achieved by providing holistic, integrated services when incidences occur, and supporting clients through the process of healing and rebuilding their lives after a traumatic event. MOSAIC creates an enabling environment through our holistic and integrated five-pillar service model Access to justice – psychosocial and legal support provided by court support workers, and psychosocial support from MOSAIC’s Sexual Violence Counsellors at Thuthuzela Care Centres Support and Healing – Counselling Services, Support Groups and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights; Engaging Men and Boys- Training and Workshops, Support Groups and Counselling for Men Empower- Education and Skills Training, Rights Training, Youth GBV Life Skills and Community Dialogues Advocacy and Policy- Advancing rights of women and girls by providing evidence from our services to change the system. The organisation was established in 1993 in response to high levels of violence against women in South Africa, particularly in the form of domestic violence, and in recognition of the silence that many women suffer in unnecessarily, due to either a lack of knowledge of their rights, a lack of confidence to access justice for themselves, or both. MOSAIC’s registered head office is in Cape Town, South Africa. For further information about MOSAIC, please visit www.mosaic.org.za
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For immediate release 12 January 2020 MOSAIC expands Access to Justice services to Domestic Violence survivors Cape Town, 12 January 2021 — MOSAIC Training, Service & Healing Centre is expanding its Access to Justice services to domestic violence survivors by extending its operating days from three days a week to five days a week in five courts in the Western Cape. The community-based, non-profit organisation works to prevent, reduce and respond to abuse and domestic violence by providing holistic, integrated services to heal and empower women through support services, access to justice and skills training. MOSAIC offers courts support services to survivors of domestic violence in the City of Cape Town, Cape Winelands, Pretoria and Durban. More than 12 000 survivors of domestic violence benefit from the service each year. “We acknowledge the challenges that exist in survivors of domestic violence accessing justice, in response, our court support services, which fall under the Access to Justice pillar of MOSAIC’s service model, provide survivors with crisis counselling, safety planning, referral to services in addition to assisting with the completion of protection order application forms, and the provision of court information,” says Nandipha Ganya, Programmes Manager of MOSAIC. In recent years, due to a lack of funding support for this service, MOSAIC was forced to reduce the number of days these services could be offered to survivors to only three days a week. But now, in partnership with Western Cape Provincial Department of Social Development, six courts have MOSAIC court support social auxiliary workers on site five days a week. “We are excited to be extending our operating days from three days a week to five days a week in six courts in the Western Cape. We hope to achieve this in all of the courts served in 2021,” says Ganya. The court support programme forms part of the MOSAIC Safe Model, a community response and prevention model. The Safe Model sees a multi-sectoral local community-based co-created response to domestic violence prevention and response. Ganya adds, “Domestic violence happens in homes and in communities. Our 27 years of offering support to survivors of domestic violence has shown that a local, co-created and community-owned response is what is needed to ensure that protection orders protect!” MOSAIC court support services are offered in the following Western Cape Magistrates Courts: 5 days a week: Bellville, Blue Downs, Cape Town, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha and Wynberg 3 days a week: Bishop Lavis, Philippi, Paarl and Wellington. If you, or someone you know, is a victim of domestic violence or gender-based violence, please contact MOSAIC on 021 761 7585, send us a message on Facebook (@MosaicNGO) or DM us on Instagram (@MosaicRSA) for assistance. If you need more information on our services, please visit our website – www.mosaic.org.za. ENDS For more information, inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact: Neo Khumalo Communications consultant E: communications@mosaic.org.za T: +27 067 640 6032 (WhatsApp Calls and messaging) About MOSAIC MOSAIC is a community-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works to prevent and reduce abuse and domestic violence. This is achieved by providing holistic, integrated services when incidences occur, and supporting clients through the process of healing and rebuilding their lives after a traumatic event. MOSAIC creates an enabling environment through our holistic and integrated five-pillar service model Access to Justice – psychosocial and legal support provided by court support workers, and psychosocial support from MOSAIC’s Sexual Violence Counsellors at Thuthuzela Care Centres Support and Healing – Counselling Services, Support Groups and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights; Engaging Men and Boys- Training and Workshops, Support Groups and Counselling for Men Empower- Education and Skills Training, Rights Training, Youth GBV Life Skills and Community Dialogues Advocacy and Policy- Advancing rights of women and girls by providing evidence from our services to change the system. The organisation was established in 1993 in response to high levels of violence against women in South Africa, particularly in the form of domestic violence, and in recognition of the silence that many women suffer in unnecessarily, due to either a lack of knowledge of their rights, a lack of confidence to access justice for themselves, or both. MOSAIC’s registered head office is in Cape Town, South Africa. For further information about MOSAIC, please visit www.mosaic.org.za
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Press release Timing: Media release to be sent out on 13 January with infographic Media targets: News desks (radio, TV, online and print), online women’s titles Just over 350 days left in 2021 to tangibly move the needle on Domestic Violence, says anti-GBV NGO MOSAIC’s 2021 wish for South Africa – a significant decrease in Domestic Violence and GBV stats Globally, six women are killed every hour by someone they know In SA, a woman dies every eight hours because of intimate partner abuse 53,293 reported sexual offences; 79% were cases of rape 3,578 persons were raped in their homes or at perpetrators’ home in just 3 months (July to September 2020) 20 000 people in the Western Cape assisted by MOSAIC in 2019-20 11,137 people reached through MOSAIC’s domestic violence court support service project More than 7,200 interim protection orders granted through MOSAIC’s support at the courts Cape Town, 13 January 2021 — Less than two weeks into the New Year, and gender-based violence (GBV) has already re-entered the national conversation in South Africa, amidst a global pandemic and soaring COVID-19 infection rates. As the world rang in a very different New Year, so new reports of rapes, sexual assaults and even killings have slowly begun to trickle in: a city councillor has been accused of rape, an elderly woman was raped on New Year’s Eve, and – perhaps miraculously – a woman stabbed multiple times by her ex-boyfriend at her home over the festive season, survived. “Tragically, this is to be expected. It might be a New Year, and a young one at that, but we still have significant strides that need to be made in the fight against GBV. As a society, we are certainly having more conversations around domestic violence (DV) and GBV, but just because the conversation is increasing, unfortunately it doesn’t mean this type of pandemic is over,” says Tarisai Mchuchu-Macmillan, Executive Director of anti-GBV non-governmental organisation (NGO) MOSAIC, a community based organisation that works to prevent and reduce abuse and domestic violence by providing holistic, integrated services for the healing and empowerment of women through support services, access to justice and training. “President Cyril Ramaphosa did not call South Africa one of the ‘most unsafe places in the world to be a woman’ in his foreword to the National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence and Femicide for nothing,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. New year, new chance to change the narrative on GBV But the year is still young enough for Mchuchu-Macmillan and MOSAIC to hope that 2021 will see tangible steps taken in the fight against domestic Violence and GBV in South Africa. “A new year is a chance to re-set our priorities and tackle challenges afresh – and GBV should be at the top of this priority list, even as the country grapples with COVID-19,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. MOSAIC and Mchuchu-Macmillan’s 2021 wish for women is a world where they feel safe and have no fear of gender-based violence, at home or in public. It is a world where abuse and violence against women, however it manifests, is ultimately eradicated in our society. “The harrowingly high number of media reports on female homicide last year gave the country moment for pause. They showed that the pandemic of GBV and femicide were showing no signs of abating, even as we were in the grip of a global health pandemic,” says Mchuchu-Macmillan. And, unfortunately, with COVID-19 concerns also keeping many at home, there is also a tangible intersection between the country’s recent lockdowns, and domestic violence in the home: for those whose homes are not a safe space, being locked down in them can be terrifying. All-in-all, the picture of domestic violence, gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa is an extremely bleak one. Among the many facts and stats related to these available, MOSAIC’s 2021 wish is to see most of these drastically reduced or eliminated: SA’s latest National Crime Statistics painted a grim picture in July 2020: the number of reported sexual offences increased from 52,420 in 2018/19, to 53,293 in 2019/20. Of these, around 79% (42,289) were reports of rape. Post-lockdown: While there was an almost 19% decrease in the number of reported rape cases, July to September 2020 still saw an eyewatering 8,922 cases reported. According to Police Minister Bheki Cele, a sample of 5,168 rape dockets revealed that more than 69% (3,578 persons) were raped in their homes or at the perpetrator’s home. The majority of those who were raped were women. The picture doesn’t look any better globally, either: UN ODC reports that globally, six women are killed every hour by someone they know, while here at home in South Africa, every eight hours a woman dies because of intimate partner abuse. “The stats are too high and at levels that MOSAIC does not wish to see repeated in 2021. Domestic violence and gender-based violence are still a lived reality for many women and children all over the world and here at home,” explains Mchuchu-Macmillan. Moving the needle – one case at a time Mchuchu-Macmillan acknowledges that the problem cannot be eradicated overnight– and in fact, many will call the mission to eradicate domestic violence and intimate partner violence a pipe dream. “Even so, we aim high and have committed ourselves to this fight 365 days a year. We aim to change women’s daily lived realities, and ensure that all are living in safety, free from abuse and violence in homes, relationships and communities,” she says. To this end, Mchuchu-Macmillan is proud of the work MOSAIC did in 2020, even during the most unprecedented of social situations (lockdown): “MOSAIC reached more than 20,000 people in the Western Cape in our 2019/20 financial year, direct and indirect, through all our service programmes: Access to justice, Support and healing, and Empowerment. Our court support service project helped reach more than 11,000 people, which shows us that the issue of domestic violence and the need for safety is
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