Protection orders in spotlight at gender-based violence summit

The two-day summit against gender-based violence which was held in Centurion last week was aimed at reducing the high levels of violence against women and children to zero, Rekord East reports.

This was the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa who addressed delegates at the St George’s hotel in Irene on Thursday.

According to Stats SA, 138 per 100 000 women were raped last year, the highest rate in the world.

“We cannot, and we will not rest until we have brought those figures down to zero,” Ramaphosa said.

Protection orders for survivors came under the spotlight during the summit recently as the president said a national registry to keep track of protection orders needed to be introduced.

He said survivors often fled their homes to different parts of the country where they would be forced to undergo a new protection process.

“We want to reach a point where no woman, child or man has to experience the violence, violation and trauma of rape.”

The summit was hosted in response to various marches held in August under the #TotalShutDown banner.

Social development minister Susan Shabangu said the summit should be used as a springboard to find solutions to the problems which created an atmosphere of fear and anxiety for women and children.

“We still live in a country where women continue to be abused. We live in a country where even our homes are not safe,” Shabangu said.

One solution suggested was the creation of a rapid response deployment team which could be called on to assist women in emergencies.

Resident United Nations co-ordinator Dr Nardos Bekele Thomas said such a team will have to be efficient and fast.

“It should seek to end a culture of hopelessness and corruption,” she said.