The City of Ekurhuleni is marshalling its strategic partners and social services resources to bring to a halt gender-based violence (GBV) that is spiralling out of control.
As it has been observed recently across the country, and in Ekurhuleni as well, women and other vulnerable members of the society have been victims of both gender-based and other forms of violence.
The city’s social workers, based at the customer care centres, are adequately able to deal with issues faced by victims of abuse.
They provide counselling where necessary, place survivors at places of safety shelters run by non-governmental organisations and link them with the police where there is a need to open a case.
The city is also working on upgrading the recently launched services app called My Ekurhuleni App to add a functionality to report cases of abuse for the city to intervene.
Residents are urged to call the (GBV) national command centre on the 24-hour toll-free number 0800 428 428.
Alternatively, people can send a please call me to *120* 7867# or send an SMS with the word “help” to 31531.
When a survivor calls the centre from a mobile phone, the caller (with explicit permission), is geographically located, enabling the GBV command centre to determine the caller’s closest resources (social worker, police station, hospital, safe house).
The city commemorated Women’s Month on August 18 at the Germiston Lake.
The women’s event was another initiative to give women a platform to propel themselves forward and draw from the strength of peers to withstand challenges common to women.
