Xingwana tackles women’s ignorance of gender violencee

The minister of women, children and people with disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, said the access to information, coupled with change in behaviour and attitude of people can help in dealing with gender-based violence in the country.

She said this at the launch of Orange Day last Sunday in Heilbron in the Free State. Orange Day is a partnership campaign between government and civil society, which is dedicated to combating gender-based violence.

The initiative was launched amid commemoration of Gender Based Violence Day; a United Nations (UN) global campaign to urge the world to unite against violence on women and children. It is also celebrated on August 25.

“To deal with Gender based violence we have to correct and change behaviour and attitudes of all our people to protect and respect women, children and people with disabilities and therefore it will take all of us to correct this by playing our part,” said Xingwana.

Information and services do exist, yet they do not always reach women, children and people with disabilities.  To deal with these challenges, Xingwana announced a plan to launch awareness campaign called ‘Vikela Mzansi’.

This campaign will provide a platform to unite and seek resources from civil society organisations, government and donors to reach women and children in the remote areas of South Africa. This will not be the first campaign that will attempt to consolidate efforts to address the needs of women.

During the 16 days of activism against violence on women campaign period, the government launched the National Council Against Gender Based Violence to intensify efforts to prevent and respond to scourge of gender-based violence. This council will coordinate the 365 days action plan against gender-based violence.

“We are dealing with a scourge that seeks interventions to address the behavioural change. Behavioural attitudes of these perpetrators are what we are dealing with, therefore there is need to continue to educate and raise the levels of awareness.

We also need to be aware of the factors that perpetuate gender-based violence such as gangsterism, which is a breeding ground for alcohol, drug and substance abuse and trafficking.

“Drugs such as Tik and Nyaope have infiltrated our society and destroying our youth and therefore it is important for all of us men and women, government and civil society to unite as a nation to fight this scourge,” said Xingwana.

The minister also invited men to join the fight against women and children abuse, emphasising that men cannot be left behind in the quest to rid the society of ills such as domestic violence and rape. She said this is critical because men are also both victims and perpetrators.

“We therefore call on men in our society to unite and join the Men for Change Movement against gender-based violence and say ‘not in my name’. Men must educate other men on the effects of violence in our society because some men commit these crimes in the name of culture and tradition.

“We have witnessed successful dialogues and rallies championed by men for men in our communities. More men should support, attend and drive the initiatives to raise awareness. Real men do not rape; real men protect and love women and children,” asserted Xingwana.

Maria Molefe of Botshabelo welcomed the government’s initiative to improve ordinary women’s access to information. She is a single mother who divorced her husband because of physical and emotional abuse.

“My dream was to become a lawyer or a social worker. But after I met my husband of 10 years this dream died. After I married him, he told me he wanted me to be a house wife and that he would provide for me. This was after our first child. I felt it was okay for a while for the sake of my child, but I had this nagging desire to work.”

This insatiable feeling made Molefe unsettled. She said she told her husband about her wish, but this triggered abuse instead.

“He became jealous and told me I was not allowed to have friends. I had to clean and cook for him and he told me this was the only thing a wife had to worry about. He started beating me for no reason. This went on for years but I was ashamed to tell my family.”

But through different information mediums such as radio, she learnt that this was not a healthy environment and managed to escape. She is optimistic that more women will escape domestic violence through awareness campaigns such as Vikela Mzantsi.