The director-general at the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, advocate Mikateko Joyce Maluleke, has told civil society organisations (CSOs) they need one another during a dialogue on realising the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

"The first thing that I want to say as a DG, also personally as Joyce, is that I know the power of co-operation between civil society and government, I can attest to that.

"Both the [department] and civil society, we are joined at the hip, we are two sides of the same coin. We both need each other, we would never disrespect or disregard CSOs because we know that we need one another and that we have the same goal," she said during the virtual webinar.

This, after several CSO members used the zoom chat option to express their frustrations over the dialogue being centred around government officials with little to no input from civil society.

Activist Rosie Motene said, "this could have been a newsletter. So disrespectful". Jacqui the Poet meanwhile pointed out that the government "called this meeting to talk down to us and not with us. You are disappointing as always."

The CSO members included some activists who were at the forefront of highlighting the GBVF crisis and had brought the issue to the government during the total shutdown in August 2018.

This led to the first national summit against GBVF, in which one of the outcomes from the list of demands was the NSP, which was developed by the interim steering committee in April 2019.

The NSP aims to "provide a cohesive strategic framework to guide the national response to the hyper-endemic GBVF crisis in which South Africa finds itself".

NSP Six Pillars:

1. Accountability, Coordinations and Leadership.

2. Prevention and Rebuilding Social Cohesion.

3. Justice, Safety and Protection.

4. Response, Care, Support and Healing.

5. Economic Power.

6. Research and Information Management.

In addition, some civil society members claimed they were informed of the dialogue at the last minute and therefore could not prepare any presentations.

Lawyer and activist Sibongile Ndashe was one of the speakers who did not have a presentation due to only finding out on the morning that she was on the agenda.

Nonetheless, she said the board of trustees was not a "good way to proceed with the NSP".

"When we say no to the board of trustees, we are saying no because Chapter 5 [of the NSP] says let's put in place a legislative framework that regulates how we work, that establishes this council … there is no magic in the board of trustees. The board of trustees is as weak or strong as the mechanisms that are put in the board of trustees," Ndashe added.

This, after the nominations for eligible candidates to occupy positions on the board of trustees to establish the National Council on Gender-based Violence and Femicide were opened in October.

Ndashe said the opposition was based on what had been presented to them, which was currently an organogram with no framework.

"Right now, what has been presented to us is an organogram – without an accountability framework, without a co-ordination framework, without a budgeting framework and this is what people are asked to submit their names for, to go and serve on a structure but that does not establish what we are saying is key in ending GBVF," she added.

According to the government, the board of trustees would consist of a maximum of 13 members – six from the government and seven from civil society – who would be appointed through a process of public nomination.

Maluleke agreed with Ndashe that the understanding/agreement of the NSP was clear that legislation should be developed by the Department of Justice.

"Even if a draft bill was put on the table, we do not know how long it will take to pass it. In the meantime, there is no formal co-ordination led by both government and CSOs, so the purpose of the structure is so that it can be able to co-ordinate and push for the legislation.

"We are not ignoring what is in the NSP and we are not pushing for a permanent structure, it is just to ensure that in the meantime our response is co-ordinated," she said.