The government has allocated R5.1 billion to ramp up its fight against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that, to give effect to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement last month concerning the unacceptably high levels of GBV and femicide, he allocated R R3.8 billion to hire more than 3 500 social workers in provinces - specifically to strengthen prevention in response to rising murders and attacks on women.
A further R186 million was allocated to boost services, investigative capacity and backlog.
An additional R157.4m has been allocated to the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities to improve national coordination and oversight.
“We are expanding sexual offences courts from 55 to 101 and increasing the number of countrywide Thuthuzela Care Centres that provide support to rape victims, from 72 to 80, by 2028/29,” said Godongwana.
National Treasury documents tabled in Parliament show that in response to a spate of recent murders and attacks on women, the government has reprioritised the R3.8 billion over the next three years to appoint 3 552 social workers and strengthen prevention, early intervention, psychosocial support, and victim empowerment.
The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) booklet states that over the 2027 medium-term expenditure framework period (the next three years), the government will continue to strengthen the integrity, efficiency and sustainability of the social grants system while ensuring continued support for vulnerable households.
“As a result of strengthened verification measures, the number of social grant beneficiaries is expected to decline from 17.8 million in 2026/27 to 17.1 million by 2029/30, generating savings of R6.2 billion.
“These savings will be reprioritised to prevent gender-based violence and femicide and to support priority health-sector interventions to combat child malnutrition and stunting,” it said.
“These allocations complement increasing numbers of sexual offences courts, care centres, victim support programmes and shelters for survivors.”
Earlier this month, the Auditor-General’s (AG) office told Parliament that social grant disbursing agency, SA Social Security Agency (Sassa), paid over R1.3 billion in the period between April 2025 and March 2026 to people who are ineligible to receive the grants.
The AG said the payments were made to deceased beneficiaries, people who work for the government and earn above the grant threshold, and beneficiaries with invalid IDs, among others.
This was because Sassa “greatly” relied on what applicants were submitting to be registered as beneficiaries and, due to a lack of integration of government systems, said the AG at the time.