The campaign is held from November 25 to December 10 every year, and its success is said to rest on the community’s daily, individual and collective actions to safeguard society against this cycle of abuse.
The City Times caught up with Benoni SAPS acting cluster commander Poobalan Subbiah for his message.
According to him, most abuse seems to be triggered by liquor, drugs and unemployment.
“People who abuse drugs and alcohol eventually become abusers,” he said, adding that the government has found it necessary to create a greater understanding in communities that we are living in a democracy where violence is not acceptable.
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“We need to ensure that our fairer sex — women — and children are treated with the necessary respect they deserve,” he said.
How can the community assist the SAPS to ensure that women and children are safe at all times?
“Firstly, stop sending kids to buy liquor and drugs for adults, because that is the beginning of it all.
“You send kids to buy such things and they might be tempted to try them out as well; these are some of the things that we shouldn’t take for granted,” said Subbiah.
In terms of the Domestic Violence Act, abuse could be emotional, physical and financial.”It’s an undue process placed on people — it does not only affect women and children — but men, too,” Subbiah explained.
“It simply places pressure on people and makes them uncomfortable in an environment — it prevents them from living a normal life,” he said.
He urged people to conform to the laws in order to avoid such issues: “Report anything to the SAPS or the social workers — allow the message of abuse to go out.”
“The more we expose people who commit such wrongs, the quicker we have a chance of apprehending and sentencing them to a life away from the community.
“An abused person contributes to the abuse of others and we cannot allow our youth and women to be broken by abuse.”
