Sixty-six years after South African women fought against the injustice of apartheid in 1956, women now experience the most violent sexual crimes and witness gruesome murders, said civil society organisations.
Yesterday, as the country celebrated National Women’s Day, civil society organisations said women are still oppressed and still do not have freedom of movement because they fear gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
The SA Civil Society for Women’s Adolescents and Children’s Health (SACSoWACH) said it was time for communities to stand up and rally behind women.
“Violence against women and children in our country is rising at alarming rates. There should also be agreement on what needs to be done at family, community and societal level,” said SACSoWACH chairperson and chief technical specialist at Right to Care, Precious Robinson.
The co-chairperson of SACSoWACH, Professor Yogan Pillay added that society needs to change how boys and young men are socialised to treat women
“Concurrently, we need to ensure that every girl and young woman gets every opportunity to reach their potential in every field be it education, the workplace, or sports,” Pillay said.
The National Shelter Movement of SA (NSMSA) said the government must take responsibility for failing South Africa’s women and children and should make a stronger commitment to decisively deal with the spiralling GBVF pandemic.
NSMSA executive committee member Joy Lange asked how she can celebrate Women’s Day when she thinks of all the women and children that are losing their lives daily.
“Every year, Women’s Month is tainted by gruesome, unthinkable GBV acts and femicide. The eight young women who were so brutally attacked in Krugersdorp, who will help them restore their human dignity that was so violently stripped from them? What about the countless other nameless victims? The fact is what happened to those young women in Krugersdorp is not an isolated incident,” Lange said.
NSMSA executive committee member and Mpumalanga representative Fisani Mahlangu said that it was unbelievably sad that 66 years after South African women fought against the injustice of apartheid, women in this country now experience the most violent sexual crimes and witness gruesome murders.
“What makes this even sadder is the fact women do not have to suffer like this because South Africa has a National Strategic Plan for addressing GBV and femicide. An important question we should all be asking is, what is holding our government back from putting this plan into action, while more women lose their dignity and their lives?” Mahlangu said.
The Helen Suzman Foundation said the high levels of GBVF in South Africa today means that for far too many women, the right to freedom and security of person, bodily integrity and dignity exist only as aspirations.
“Women’s Day cannot only be a day of historical observance. It must be a call to action for as long as the threat of GBV consumes almost every aspect of women’s lives,” the foundation said.
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