The Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities, Ms Lulu Xingwana has vowed to fully capacitate her new department so that it effectively carries out its mandate and core-functions of coordination, oversight and mainstreaming of issues of gender, disability and children’s rights.
Minister Xingwana was responding to parliamentary questions for the first time today since assuming the position of being the Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities from Monday, 1 November.
Minister Xingwana said the proposed organisational structure of the department was being reviewed to ensure that it is streamlined and geared towards achieving the mandate and core-functions of the department.
“The current staff complement of the department is clearly inadequate compared to the task of mainstreaming gender, disability and children’s rights considerations into the entire programme of government. The department is currently reviewing the proposed organisational structure to ensure that it is geared towards achieving our mandate and core-functions,” Minister Xingwana told Parliament.
The minister said the immediate task is to mobilise the necessary expertise to capacitate the department. “This should combine both recruitments into vacancies in the department and better coordination of our relationship with various departments and organisations. These organisations are doing outstanding work in the area of gender and women empowerment, disability and promotion of the rights of children,” said Minister Xingwana.
Minister said there is a process of reviving the National Gender Machinery as a critical resource in enhancing the struggle for gender equality in the country. “This is the platform that should allow various women’s organisations and gender institutions to play their role in an integrated programme coordinated and led by the ministry,” said Minister Xingwana.
Minister Xingwana said there is a system in place to establish an effective working framework or arrangement with offices of status of Women, Rights of Children and Persons with Disabilities at provincial level. “These offices are important in cascading the functions of the ministry to the provincial level,” said Minister Xingwana.
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