Jehran Naidoo
Durban - The deputy international relations minister Alvin Botes says the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of increased global cooperation around social and other issues.
Botes spoke on Monday at the residence of British High Commissioner Nigel Casey, after South Africa received a R50 million donation from the United Kingdom government towards the country’s Solidarity Fund which was created to raise money towards the response to the coronavirus.
The donation would be used specifically in the fight against gender-based violence and the empowerment of women in South Africa, the deputy minister added.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has, in my view, emphasised the need for increased international cooperation and a multilateral approach to solving the world’s biggest challenges,” he said.
“(It has) confirmed that the impact of transnational challenges may only be mitigated through multilateral responses, and through better interstate cooperation.”
Botes said South Africa had a strong relationship with the U.K government.
“This trilateral relationship between the South African government, the British High Commission and the Solidarity Fund serves as an important instrument to respond to the economic alienation of South Africa’s women,” he said.
He stressed the need for both the public and private sectors to be involved in grappling with gender-based violence, calling it “the highest manifestation of sexist domination” which existed because patriarchy gave men an enormous symbolic and material power.
“We are elated that the Solidarity Fund recognises that the Covid-19 pandemic has bestowed an additional burden on the marginalized women of South Africa,” said the deputy minister.
African News Agency/ANA