By Silindzelwe Nxumalo
The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Thulisile Dladla says there is a need for a new action plan in the fight against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in the country. The DPM said as she assumes office, her priority would be on this catastrophe of GBV that has plagued emaSwati.
Dladla noted that many studies had been done on this issue to look at what were the underlying causes, but now they needed to meet all stakeholders fighting against GBV and compile an action plan. She stated that together as the Cabinet they would be able to come up with something that would at least address the issue because the underlying causes had been identified.
“We cannot reinvent the wheel and still go do another study which other organisations have already done like UN, SWAGGA, and the DPMs office,” she said. The DPM said the nation had spoken during Sibaya and she was going to get hold of all the submissions made there and identify the areas that would need their attention.
Dladla added that as a cabinet they needed to work as a collective because the ministry was not for just one person but for all of them. “We have to install this in everyone in the cabinet that every ministry is for all of us in the cabinet and we are expected to deliver, and that we have to do against all odds,” she said.
She also added that she was up for this new challenge as she could not disappoint the King because it would mean she had disappointed the nation at large. She stated that the nation had spoken, and they had laid the road map for them to use and ensure that the budget addresses the needs of emaSwati.
“We are not going to sit in the office, we must go out and see what the people need. We will have to have timelines and see that we deliver,” she said. During the GBV awareness launch hosted by the REPS, they shared that there had been 147 GBV cases reported in the past 11 months in the country.
The most recent one was the one that involved Sheriff Vusi Mncina who shot five women including his girlfriend which left four dead and one rushed to hospital. This incident happened at Ezulwini in the presence of minor children. The matter is now in court.
Another case was one where a well-known couple on social media died after the husband shot his wife and himself leaving their son orphaned. Just last week, a boyfriend to a 19-year-old girl stabbed her in broad daylight at a bus stop waiting room in Siphocosini.
