Eye on Video

During the recent Gender and Media Summit and Awards held in October, one submission for video advocacy stood out and took home the award for Investigative Reporting (sustained reporting on a particular issue).

This piece was titled Gender De-commissioned, and was produced by Melini Moses and Busisiwe Ntuli of South Africa. The judges said “the journalists talk to real people about real issues”.

It has been 14 years since the national women’s movement progressively lobbied to entrench gender equality in all spheres of South African society. As a result, the government established the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE). But just how effective and relevant is the CGE? Gender De-commissioned investigates whether the CGE is worth the millions of taxpayer’s money it annually receives. Since its inception, the CGE has had countless allegations of corruption and mismanagement while, ironically, its mandate is to investigate cases of gender discrimination.

The journalists talk to abused women and test the CGE to see if they respond to requests for help. One such example is a young Zimbabwean woman who was raped and fell pregnant shortly after arriving in Johannesburg. The documentary takes viewers through her experiences after the rape, including the refusal by police to assist her, and her difficulties in accessing services.

This documentary takes the CGE to task for their silence in the midst of such a great need for their services in South Africa.

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