Cape Town – One of the cars donated by BMW South Africa in February last year to help combat gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide is gathering dust, with an expired licence.
The DA intends submitting parliamentary questions to Minister of Woman, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane to explain why this is the case.
This comes after an oversight inspection by the DA yesterday to the Mzamo Child Guidance and Training Initiative in KwaZulu-Natal, which was one of the recipients of a BMW i3.
On February 6 last year, BMW South Africa donated five BMW i3s to the government, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Cyril Ramaphosa among the dignitaries attending the donation ceremony.
The Presidency said this was “to support community-based care workers in their prevention of gender-based violence and femicide and in victim support”. It added that the vehicles would be “presented to the South African Business Coalition on Health and Aids (Sabcoha) to manage on behalf of the multisectoral Interim Steering Committee on Gender-based Violence and Femicide”.
Today, Pres Cyril Ramaphosa and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the official handover of 5 BMW vehicles that will be used to fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide #GBVF #GermanyInSA pic.twitter.com/urKCOAD6Ff
— @SAgovnews (@SAgovnews) February 6, 2020
However, Right to Care – a leading healthcare organisation that began in response to the public healthcare emergency of HIV and Aids – received the BMWs on August 17, 2020 and held the cars on the state’s behalf under a service level agreement, “initially under the Presidency, and now under the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disability”, according to Professor Ian Sanne, CEO of Right to Care, Daily Maverick reported in December.
There were questions at the time over how the luxury vehicles would make a difference in the battle against GBV, with the Western Cape indicating ’’they can’t accept the cars due to safety reasons as they are servicing areas that are riddled with crime’’, Shalen Gajadhar, spokesperson for the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, was quoted as saying.
According to a November statement by the department, the BMWs were handed over to five civil society organisations: Youth for Survival in Tshwane, Gauteng; Mzamo Child Guidance and Training in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal; Victim Support Centre Middelburg, Mpumalanga; Disabled People South Africa, Limpopo; and Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre in East London, Eastern Cape.
The DA found Mzamo Child Guidance and Training’s vehicle has only 348km on the clock, while other centres in the province are unable to assist in bringing GBV victims in rural areas to their care centres. It intends carrying out more spot checks to see if the other BMWs are being utilised for the intended purpose.
DA spokesperson on woman, youth and disabilities Nazley Sharif said in a statement on Tuesday: ’’We found the BMW was handed over to Mzamo in October last year, but the licence subsequently expired in November 2020. The official handover of the vehicle only took place in February 2020.
’’The vehicle that was given to Mzamo was found sitting in a garage and is collecting dust. It has only 348km on the clock and we were told the only time this car has been driven was when they went to collect the car and brought it back to Mzamo’s facilities.’’
Sharif said the DA has three concerns: ’’Firstly, why has the licensing and the registration of the vehicle taken so long? It is as if there is no priority to ensure that this car indeed assist in the job of curbing GBV and femicide.
“Secondly, we found out that these cars were meant to be given to Sabcoha, but was then given to Right to Care without giving an explanation from the Minister in the Presidency for that matter. The car is now just standing there and it is not being utilised.
’’Even though it is important to provide these cars to organisations that need it, the mandate and the reason the cars are donated is to assist in the fight against GBV and femicide. The DA was not convinced that was the case.
’’We visited a Thuthuzela Care Centre before we came to Mzamo and they told us that they don’t even have one car to assist with victims of the rural areas to bring them to their care centres. People are spending their social grant money – R120 per trip – to come and report GBV and sexual assault.
’’This is a massive problem. These cars are meant to service places like the Thuthuzela Care Centre, but yet it has been given to organisations that don’t necessarily deal with GBV and femicide and this is concerning to the DA.
'’Thirdly, ensuring that accountability and transparency is not being done. The fact that Right to Care has taken ownership of these BMWs is concerning because Parliament does not have information and finding information is very difficult.
’’The DA will be asking official questions to Minister Nkoana-Mashabane on the role of Right to Care and how they were given this responsibility to manage and facilitate the handing out of the BMWs.
’’We will continue our national tour and conduct spot checks in other provinces to make sure these BMWs are being used correctly for its intended purpose and ensuring they are being used in the fight against GBV and femicide.’’
IOL