Critics say SA spends more on VIP protection than policing for women and children

Parliamentary figures and service providers have raised concerns about the government’s allocation of policing funds, saying VIP protection receives substantially more money than specialised units that respond to crimes against women and children.

Budget gap between VIP protection and specialised FCS policing

According to The Citizen, the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) policing environment receives about R1.614 billion, while VIP Protection Services are allocated about R2.46 billion. The difference is about R846 million, The Citizen reported.

Voices calling for prevention and proportionality

Teddy Bear Foundation clinical director Shaheda Omar said prevention is often overlooked and that “We cannot police our way out of GBV.” She called for greater investment in prevention programmes aimed at children and young people before violence occurs.

“We cannot police our way out of GBV.” Shaheda Omar, Teddy Bear Foundation clinical director

Omar outlined a range of prevention and early-intervention measures she said should be prioritised, including positive parenting, lessons on healthy relationships, consent and boundaries, programmes addressing harmful sexual behaviour among children, interventions for young people displaying violent or sexually harmful behaviour, school-based prevention initiatives and community programmes challenging the normalisation of violence.

Protecting women means protecting children, advocates say

Omar warned that children should not be treated as collateral victims when women are targeted. She said that when a mother is murdered, abused or forced to live in fear, her children may be affected in multiple ways including witnessing violence, losing a caregiver, experiencing displacement and developing trauma.

Omar urged a focus on proportionality, transparency and public accountability in budget decisions, saying the government “must be able to explain why resources are allocated to particular areas, what outcomes those resources produce and whether spending reflects the country’s declared priorities.”

Resources should match declared priorities

Omar said that if gender-based violence and femicide are treated as a national crisis, urgency should be reflected in the resources available to frontline services: police officers investigating rape, social workers supporting victims, forensic practitioners collecting evidence, prosecutors handling cases and services helping families recover.

She added: “A budget is not just an accounting document – it is a statement of what and who we choose to protect.”

Service gaps and uneven delivery

Robyn Wolfson Vorster, child protection expert and founding director of For The Voiceless, said that although violence against women and children was declared a national disaster in November 2025, “the government’s budgetary response indicates that it is yet to put its money where its mouth is.”

Wolfson Vorster said the inadequate FCS unit budget has resulted in service gaps and disparities in how services are delivered across provinces and regions.

What critics want

• Clearer explanation from government on resource allocation decisions
• Greater investment in prevention programmes for young people
• Stronger resourcing for frontline services responding to GBV and crimes against children