Organisation aims to help women speak out about abuse
Zwane encourages people to speak out on abuse
Kwa-Thema – Arise and Shine Sifazane is an organisation based in Kwa-Thema which tackles women’s issues, mainly GBV.
Founded by Sibongile Zwane in 2022, the organisation helps women to speak up on issues affecting them.
Back in 2010, a man she loved physically abused Zwane and, as a born-again Christian, she kept quiet for long, thinking she would deal with the issue through prayer.
She also thought and hoped that the man would change and stop the abuse, as he was a born-again prophet.
“The man was just a boyfriend at the time of the abuse. He would beat me up and insult me. At some point, he even used a charger cable trying to strangle me and saying he wanted to kill me.
“Only God knows how I survived,” Zwane said.
She said the man once turned her into a laughingstock when he sent a delegation to her house to pay lobola for her, only to say they didn’t have the money for the dowry.
“I ended up breaking up with him. He got married to someone else and died a few years later,” Zwane said.
After all the abuse Zwane went through, she started undergoing awareness classes in 2017, where she learnt that there is no use keeping quiet when being abused and that women should speak up.
“Even pensioners abused by their children and grandchildren should start speaking up so that action be taken against abusers,” Zwane said.
Zwane said her life taught her that God doesn’t love and promote abuse. She joined the SAPS Women and Safety Promoters (WASP). She did volunteering and later became the chairperson of it the Kwa-Thema Police Station WASP.
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The objectives of Arise and Shine Sivazane are:
• To improve the quality of life for others in the community, local, national, or even global level.
• Awaken all women to be independent.
• Educate young women not to be dependent or to give up their rights.
• GBV awareness.
• To reach out to old citizens.
• To reach out to all heartbroken women in the world.
• Reach out to schools, colleges, universities, correctional service centres and also places like brothels.
“I would like my organisation to reach such places so that I may pass my message to those who have given up that it’s time to ‘Arise and Shine’,” she said.
Zwane usually hosts awareness programmes at her church or at her place, where she gets to speak to women and all those who attend.
“In my next programme, I’ll be speaking to single parents, both men and women. I will release a poster in due course,” Zwane said.
For more information on Arise and Shine and those who need someone to speak to can contact Zwane on 073 084 0569 for calls and on 062 961 2529 for WhatsApp.
Zwane is also available to give motivational talks in churches, organisations and other programmes.
