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Tsenoli asked to probe Commission on Gender Equality's challenges

Ernest Mabuza Journalist
A group of gender activists and professionals called on acting National Assembly speaker Lechesa Tsenoli to appoint an inquiry into the Commission on Gender Equality's challenges.
A group of gender activists and professionals called on acting National Assembly speaker Lechesa Tsenoli to appoint an inquiry into the Commission on Gender Equality's challenges.
Image: Gallo Images / Beeld / Nasief Manie

A group of more than 40 individuals and 16 organisations has called on acting National Assembly speaker Lechesa Tsenoli to appoint an impartial inquiry into the Commission on Gender Equality.

The group also wants the investigation to probe the commission's structural historic challenges, which they say had impeded it from fulfilling its constitutional duty.

In the letter to Tsenoli, the group of concerned gender activists and professionals, institutions and individuals said it wanted to discuss the extreme dysfunction at the commission, which impedes it from fulfilling its constitutional and public service mandates.

The collective said given the persistence of patriarchal gender inequality and gender-based violence on all levels of society and in all communities, the CGE's mandate was all the more critical.

“We are compelled to ask the structural question of what the CGE’s impact has been since inception well over two decades ago, what has it achieved in all these many years?” they said in the letter.

The collective said given the extent of gender-based violence in SA, what evidence existed that the commission had effectively combated and reduced the incidence of GBV in the country?

It said civil society has long used its own resources to combat gender-based violence and there was tangible evidence of the impact of its work on GBV and gender inequality.

“The CGE, with its not-insubstantial government budget, is challenged to show evidence of whether and how it has effected systemic change in over 20 years of existence.”

The group said the inquiry should consult widely with not only the commission and parliament but also with civil society institutions and individuals active in the field of gender justice.

TimesLIVE

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