MBOMBELA – As part of celebrating
and honouring women, especially those
who put their lives at risk, more than a
1 000 women from all walks of society marched to the Mbombela Stadium to hand over a memorandum, based on gender violence, to the provincial government.
They gave it to Mr Vusi Shongwe,
MEC for community safety, security and liaison who was representing Mr David Mabuza.
The march was part of Women’s Month planned activities to enhance government’s efforts to reach out to all women.
Among others, they raised concerns about the number of gender-based violence cases which were increasing habitually hence there was a need to sustain the campaign on violence against women and children for 365 days a year.
They also called on government to provide enough resources to court systems to improve investigations of sexual offence cases in order to enhance conviction rates of rape and murder perpetrators in order to bring about justice to victims of gender-based violence.
The marchers have also requested government to establish a hotline for the community to report all matters relating to this.
Speaking during the handover of the memorandum, Ms Wandile Sobahle who represented organised labour, said that unemployment of women mainly contributed to them being vulnerable to abuse.
She said that government must create an environment which will empower women and provide them with job opportunities in order to make them independent.
Meanwhile, Shongwe said that women must be respected and recognised, not only during Women’s Month or during 16 Days of Activism but every day.
He added that the provincial government has already embarked on a year plan to promote the campaign of No Violence Against Women and Children.
