South Africa: Rural Women Left With No Help After GBV Budget Blown On One Event

By Celani Sikhakhane

Acting Mayor Hlengiwe Nkosi says Big Five Hlabisa used its entire R300,000 gender-based violence budget on one Women's Day event.
Big Five Hlabisa Municipality says poverty in Mnqobokazi leaves it unable to fund gender programmes or support women facing violence.

Women in one of South Africa's poorest rural areas say they are left without help as gender-based violence continues to rise around them. Their municipality says it is simply too broke to protect them.

Big Five Hlabisa Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal says it has run out of money to fight gender-based violence. Acting Mayor Hlengiwe Nkosi told residents the problem is not a lack of will, but a lack of cash.

Nkosi made the admission on Tuesday during the opening of a new community hall in Mnqobokazi. She said the municipality had only R300,000 for all women and gender programmes for the entire year.

She said: "That R300,000 budget was spent on the Women's Day event on 9 August. Since then, we have had nothing left to help victims or run any other GBV programmes."

The municipality falls under uMkhanyakude District and is one of the poorest in the country. Most residents live in deep poverty and cannot pay rates. This leaves the municipality depending almost fully on government grants, with little money for emergency support.

Nkosi said they need more funding from the provincial treasury if they are to protect vulnerable women and children.

The crisis is not unique to them. Many rural municipalities face the same struggle. Their planning documents often ignore national gender-based violence policies, leaving women in known hotspots without proper protection.

The National Disaster Management Centre recently declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster. Dr Bongani Elias Sithole said it meets the legal definition of a disaster under the Disaster Management Act. This means all levels of government must act urgently to save lives and support victims.

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