Shelters housing victims of gender violence are not properly funded, managed and have no standard approach to assist the LGBTI community.

These are the findings of an investigation by the Commission for Gender Equality which looked into the state of shelters that accommodate victims of violence across the nine province.

The investigation follows complaints by the commission about the a of counselling at these shelters, secondary victimisation and abuse as well as poor conditions of the facilities. Three shelters were sampled. 

The investigation found that: 

- there was lack of adequate funding;

- late payment of tranches and a lack of cooperation;

- in some shelters, buildings and facility infrastructure and security posed a problem;

- there was lack of transitional housing for the victims;

- there was a lack of standardised salaries among people doing the same work;

- shelters lack compliance to policies and standardised practises;

- the social development department failed to ensure proper implementation of policies;

- the department had inconsistent funding methods;

- there was no standardised approach to assist survivors of violence in the LGBTI community.

“Women complained that they were discharged and had no place to go and ended up in the streets. Some victims would come to the shelter with children but there was no crèche facility to help the victims,” said commission’s acting chairperson Tamara Mathebula.

The commission looked at shelter capacity, period of stay and survivor readiness to leave the shelter, shelter funding , record-keeping and ethics of confidentiality, safety and security and relationship with the police, among others.

The commission also requested information from the department in relation to budget allocation and other support.