State 'failing women's needs'

DESPITE making up more than half the population, the needs of women and girls – especially victims of violence – are being placed on the back burner due to the government's spending priorities.

This is the overall trend highlighted by the Women's Legal Centre in a report released last week.

The report, "Eye on the Money: Women and Government priorities in South Africa" looks at four key departments – justice, health, police, and rural development and land reform – and how their budget spending affects women. It looked at annual reports, strategic plans and budget review and recommendation reports.

The report noted that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, which recently became the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, topped the list of departments with the highest "fruitless and wasteful expenditure" – in the region of R39-million in the 2012-13 financial year.

In the same period, the report said, the department failed to improve court structures and hire additional prosecutors for sexual offence cases, as well as sufficient court clerks to deal with domestic violence.

The auditor-general also found that the department failed to take effective steps to prevent irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Report co-author Joy Watson, an independent feminist researcher, said: "Government is failing the needs of women."

The report also noted that, in President Jacob Zuma's second 2014 state of the nation address last month, he failed to show how the government planned to spend its money "in a way that will specifically improve the lives of women". - Aarti J Narsee