By Hlulani Mashaba
The protection and nurturing of women and children is the cornerstone of prosperous, democratic, non-racial and most importantly, non-sexist society. The theme for this year’s campaign is a very courageous statement to proclaim, which called upon every member of society to take accountability in ending the scourge of gender-based violence. “The Year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke – 16 Days of Activism campaign – moving from awareness to accountability”.
It was critical for Gauteng Community Safety as the lead department in the implementation of strategy on dealing with violence against women and children, to challenge the attitudes and stereotypes that perpetuate gender-based violence and femicide in our respective communities. The department has worked very hard in this regard to shift from awareness to accountability and created an environment for men to play a greater role in gender-based violence and femicide prevention. This was evident in the many campaigns and programmes the department undertook during the 16 Days of Activism for no violence against women and children.
It is when you get men involved that they are able play a role in prevention of violence against women and children. The recent surge in gender-based violence incidents has pushed back the efforts of our democratic government in upholding the rights of women. It is well documented that men are the majority perpetrators of violence against women and children. What is of great concern is that most of the gender-based violence incidents are perpetrated by loved ones, be it relatives and soulmates.
The Gauteng Department of Community Safety has adopted 365 Days program of action to fight the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide. This approach is aligned with government and civil society in collectively taking responsibility for social transformation. The issue of social challenges especially inequalities become key as government seek to accelerate transformation in the Gauteng City Region. Our mandate to provide social protection to the vulnerable women and children is critical in building social integration and social solidarity. Indeed, building safer communities is one of the key priorities of our department as it is also part of the National Development plan 2030.
The Department is ready to deal with patriarchal systems that place a value on women in relation to their servitude to men and society. The scourge of violence against women and children persists in part due to the ineffective implementation of policies and frameworks, as well as persistent toxic cultural and religious practises that consider women to be of less value to men.
The Department working with stakeholders with an interest on safety reaffirms its commitment in the fight against the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide. During the heightened 16 Days of Activism campaign, the Department conducted several activities aimed at discouraging violence against women and children such as Reclaiming the Night march aimed at promoting the safety of women and children, men’s dialogue session on gender-based violence to find creative ways to end the scourge of GBVF and the District Gender-Based Violence Services in all Gauteng corridors amongst others.
The Department intends to roll-out a mass social mobilization campaign beyond the 16 Days of Activism campaign to highlight the need for increased participation and engagement of all sectors of society to collectively take responsibility in the prevention of violence against women and children.
As we are shifting to accountability, the Department will stop at nothing to engage men at any given opportunity to assist in the fight against the gender-based violence pandemic. The social anomalies experienced by society at large must be put to a complete halt and any practices perpetuating violence against women and children must be discouraged at all costs. Many perpetrators of these atrocious acts of gender-based violence roam on the streets disguised as fathers and community leaders amongst others. At some churches, women are sexually molested and in the name of not bringing the church to disrepute, the heartless rapists get away with it. The rapists are protected by the same institutions who are supposed to expose and condemn them. Has some section of society naturalized these hideous acts of crime?
The Gauteng Provincial Government is committed to ending gender-based violence and femicide. The National Strategic Plan and formation of the National GBV Council show efforts by government to coordinate the efforts of thousands of South Africans to end GBVF pandemic. The Gauteng Provincial Government alone cannot eradicate this scourge and calls on all sectors especially men to partner with us in creating safer communities. No abuse must go unhindered. Families and communities must unite against abusers by reporting these abusers and providing support to victims.
The time has come to end discrimination against LGBTQIA+ community. Sexual Identity and Sexual preferences are personal choices that do not take away a person’s human rights. Homophobic or transphobic attitudes are harmful and have no place in a free and democratic society.
The Department will continue with its support measures for victims and survivors of GBVF. The Gauteng Provincial Government has services to support victims of abuse. Ikhaya Lethemba, a one-stop centre for victims of abuse, has a set of services and empowerment sessions to help victims of abuse deal with the trauma of violence.
We commend authorities in the criminal justice system for their tireless efforts in ensuring that justice is served in gender-based violence cases and that all perpetrators of violence against women and children are removed from society. This was evident also during the 16 days of Activism period.
This is a clear demonstration that Gauteng has a zero tolerance on gender-based violence. Gauteng government calls upon all sectors of society join community safety structures to fight abuse against women and children. Safety structures such as Youth Crime Prevention Desks, Men as Safety Promoters, CPFs etc are available at the local police stations.
The Department calls upon men, especially father figures to instil the values of human dignity, equality and respect in young men and boys. Our young boys must be mentored and guided on their journey to adulthood. Men and boys play a crucial role in the eradication of violence against women and children.
Beyond the 16 Days of Activism campaign, communities must ask themselves what are they doing, individually and collectively, to address the scourge of gender-based violence that threatens to erode the gains we have made since 1994 to build a caring society? Beyond adopting the role of critics, what is it that other sectors can do to help government to eliminate violence against vulnerable groups? Fighting gender-based violence is a collective responsibility. Let us Grow a Safer Gauteng Together!
Hlulani Mashaba is the Deputy Director of Media Relations at the Gauteng Department of Community Safety.