Sosh Block X men encouraged to protect women and children

Rietgat police station commander Brigadier Molatelo Maphoto has encouraged men to speak up and “stop bottling things up, then take their frustrations out on women and children”.

Maphoto was addressing men in a Soshanguve block X community hall where the station and its stakeholders commemorated 16 Days of Activist against women and children abuse.

The police requested women to excuse themselves to allow men to talk about the thorny issue of gender-based violence (GBV) among themselves.

Maphoto urged men to stop abusing women as GBV offences remained a problem at Rietgat.

He added that men need to redeem themselves and take care of women and children.

He indicated that in the last quarter, from July to September, more than 200 GBV-related cases were reported to the police while 128 were pending in court.

“Those cases were not opened against women but us men, so we need to speak out and stop bottling things up because when we don’t talk, we end up venting on women by beating them up,” he said.

He said men must stop thinking men are tigers and tigers don’t cry.

“You must cry and share your problems with other men,” said Maphoto.

Maphoto dispelled the notion that suggests that the police laugh at men when they are victims of domestic abuse.

“When you are abused as a man you must come to the police station and open a case and we will help you without prejudice. We are there to assist everyone at the station, no one will laugh at you,” he said.

Motivational speaker, Vincent Seshoka said that some men’s behaviour stems from being raised in broken families with the absence of a father figure.

“Some perpetrators come from broken families but not every man is born a perpetrator, not every man is an abuser… lack of proper role models sometimes leads to some men turning out to be abusers,” he said.

He said the men must remember that they are providers as well as defenders of their families.

“It’s okay for a man to cry, problems are there but avoid doing things that will cause problems. When you are down you need to talk to some of us and we will listen to you, and share your pain,” he said.

Men collectively vowed to model the kind of man who will take care of women, children and himself.

Other men also said that they will support each other through skills development and sharing of information.

Stakeholders pledged to fight GBV and protect women and children even beyond the 16 Days of activism campaign.

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