MIDDELBURG – With more than 1 000 cases reported on gender based violence across the province within the annual commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism, in a laughter filled gathering, facts on the scourge were articulated matter-of-factly by the various speakers led by the MEC for Social Development, Thandi Shongwe.
This was a gracious moment, whereby, Shongwe handed over a brand new vehicle, an electronic BMW to the Middelburg Victim Support Centre to assist in transportation needs at the centre which was donated by the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality.
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“Our department monitors gender based violence through the three-way robot which is three-pronged: Green – #LightsForLife; Yellow – #SeeTheSigns and Red- #RunForLife.
“Gender based violence in our society in the province is somewhat self-inflicted, whereby, some women will continuously allow their partners to inflict love-bites all over their necks to such an an extent that they always cover their necks in public. Women should refrain from allowing men to inflict those love-bites.
“Also the element of rape crops in because men no longer respect womenfolk and demand sex at any given moment which ends up in them forcing themselves on them – that’s tantamount to rape.
“In the olden days, husband and wife slept separately. Husband would call out: make ngingewela na? That was asking for consensual sex, not this tendency of turning us women into sex tools who can be abruptly called upon at any given moment.
“I have also set up a widows’ forum, whereby, among others, we’ve tackled issues of exploitation of widows by their male counterparts, including Ben 10s.
“There are horrible tales of abused women and men in our society that will be fixed through our ongoing GBV programs as a department with all stakeholders because with us, it’s not about 16 days, but every day of fighting the scourge, head-on,” she concluded and officially handed over the electric BMW vehicle and officially opened the center.
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Rorisang Mahlangu from the Department of Justice also painted a grim picture of the GBV status in the justice system platforms.
“We are inundated with GBV cases. The sad thing is the opening and cancellation of cases. In one incident, a female victim opened a GBV case, hours later she came back to cancel it. Within a few hours after the cancellation, she was shot dead.
“Those are the sad circumstances that victims come across. We’re working round the clock in our department to nullify the cancellation of cases,” she pointed out.
READ THE FULL COVERAGE IN THE JANUARY 2021 EDITION.
