By: Lungisa Somtombo
To arm women on how to protect themselves and where to go for help when they are abused, the Eastern Cape Government held a provincial dialogue on gender based violence and femicide at the Steve Biko Centre in Ginsburg, King Williams Town yesterday.
Addressing the purpose of the day, Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture MEC Fezeka Bayeni quoted an answer given by Eastern Cape born Miss South Africa 2019 Zozibini Tunzi during the beauty pageant when she said women in South Africa have no reason to smile as the country has done everything in its power to end gender based violence and the only thing that has not been done is to change the mindset of the perpetrators.
“Questions that need to be answered at this event are, what is going to be done to change the mindset of the perpetrators and how are they going to include men in the fight against gender based violence?̈” said Bayeni.
Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said the issue of gender based violence and femicide is directed towards women and it is done by men. He expressed that he wants men to be men enough to understand the importance of protecting women in society.
The Premier said the issue of gender based violence is a societal problem and it needs a collective approach. No one will be able to fight it alone. He added that they call upon civil society and communities to work with the government in fighting this injustice.
Thuthuzela Care centre Case Manager Advocate Vatiswa Jodwana-Blayi said the centre deals with rape cases and that cases they recieve include all ages and genders. To curb gender based violence they hold awareness campaigns in schools and communities.
Jodwana-Blayi said their main challenge is victims opening cases then come back to withdraw the case later. She explained that people who do this are older women that say they have spoken with their husbands or boyfriends and have fixed things therefore closing the cases.
“Another challenge we have is young girls who go to nightclubs and are taken advantage of by older men and get raped. The men in their defence say they thought the girls were old enough,” said Jodwana-Blayi.
Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga said the core problem is substance and alcohol abuse, if you notice the rate of rape cases is high during December as they are fighting and stabbing each other since they are under the influence of alcohol.
“We have campaigns where we go house to house and talk to people, we have Imbizo where we get traditional leaders in villages to talk to people and advise them that when there are ceremonies of men returning from initiation schools they should not fight and we want to restrict these ceremonies to close early because at night they fight as they are under the influence of alcohol,” said Ntshinga.