Johannesburg - The Minister of Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya has dismissed negative media reports about the ministry, saying they will not detract it from working towards eliminating violence against women and children.
"We will not allow the sideshow which is being created by the media to divert us from the critical task of addressing the major challenge of violence affecting women and children of our country," said Mayende-Sibiya.
This comes after media reports that the new ministry, created under President Jacob Zuma's administration, was not performing well.
Explaining the developments which had taken place within the department since its establishment, the minister said a strategic framework had been developed and a budget had been drawn up and forwarded to the Department of Public Service and Administration for consideration.
Additionally, the department had advertised for the position of Director General and the screening process would begin after the 7 December closing date.
The ministry will be appointing three more officials acting in the Deputy Director General post to handle each of the ministry's constituency's - women, youth and children and people with disabilities.
Government's 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign, which will be launched next week, is currently being run by the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and will would be taken over by the department next year.
However, Mayende-Sibiya said her ministry was working together to implement to campaign.
The minister said that she dreamt of a society where boys and girls were able to walk the streets of the country without fear. She also expressed concern at increasing levels of child pornography how children themselves are able to access pornography.
She appealed to the police to act decisively in such cases and to arrest people implicated in such matters. "Such cases are linked to human trafficking and we should all be concerned about such challenges," said Mayende-Sibiya.
