Residents protest against women and child abuse

The chanting, “Enough is enough, let’s join hands against woman and child abuse” reverberated in the streets of Emjindini last Thursday as over 100 people came together.

They started at KaMahlangu Church, up to Shongwe Street and ended up at Emjindini Community Hall.

Various stakeholders, including the SAPS, GRIP, LoveLife, as well as the departments of social development, justice, correctional services, health, and home affairs, and other non-governmental organisations, took part.

Beforehand one of the organisers, Nkosinathi Zwane outlined the purpose of the march.

According to statistics, every six hours a woman is killed by her husband or boyfriend, one in every four men has raped a woman while one in every three women was forced into her first sexual encounter in South Africa. During the march, they sang and danced to songs of liberation.

Const Tutu Nkosi of the Barberton SAPS encouraged women to support one another, and appealed to the victims of abuse to report their cases to the police and not be afraid of the perpetrators.

“Criminals can be found anywhere and it is necessary that they be punished. With more incidents of harassment towards women, it is up to them to report about the ill-treatment instead of mutely bearing it. Police are always there to help them, however, they need to come forward and report their problems to us,” said Nkosi.

Meanwhile, several community members who were also present at the march said that many times when victims went to the police station to lodge complaints, some of the cops would advise them to settle the issue without filing a complaint.