‘Show me the money’: A review of budgets allocated towards the implementation of South Africa's Domestic Violence Act.

As many as one in two South African women is subjected to violence at the hands of her intimate partner. To combat such abuse, the South African government passed the Domestic Violence Act in 1998. This article draws on annual budget votes as well as previous research to examine what budget has been allocated towards the Act's implementation. Finding little evidence for such financial planning, it then presents research costing the implementation of the Act at nine sites in three provinces. The actual daily expenditure on the Act suggests that it is both under-funded and under-prioritised. Budgets then are clearly an aspect of policy formulation and implementation that needs to be engaged with by those concerned with advancing gender equality. However, very few spaces exist in which to contest government departments' budgets. Lack of budget and absence of political space demonstrates weak political accountability to women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]