Soshanguve police raise awareness of GBVF and donate sanitary towels
They educated women and men about gender-based violence and femicide and how to report it.
Soshanguve police and their partners donated more than 500 packs of sanitary towels to residents of Marry Me, in Soshanguve on Wednesday.
This was part of the police station’s 16 Days of activism for no violence against women and children campaign to end the stigma of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
The police educated women and men about GBVF while distributing sanitary towels.
Residents said they appreciate the police’s efforts to bring the information to them considering that there are a lot of GBVF cases in the area.
They said the information shared by the police will enable them report cases, and stop protecting perpetrators.
Resident Nomsa Gumebe said “the sanitary towels will come in handy because some people can’t afford them”.
She added that this was a great way of forming a partnership with the police, and promised to work hand-in-hand with them to give them tip-offs and report GBVF.
Another resident, Mashudu Mukhubu said the awareness campaign was good for the community because people get abused in silence because they perhaps don’t know they’re being abused.
“Now with these pamphlets, we will read and understand but what’s important is knowing where to report a case and how to do it,” she said.
CPF member Pietros Mohume said it was important to host an outreach in Marry Me informal settlement to form a partnership with the community and help fight violence against women and children.
“We don’t want a situation where the police and the public don’t get along. We need to work together to deal with any form of crime in this community,” he said.
Mohume confirmed that there were numerous cases of GBVF, and it causes them sleepless nights.
“The cases here are many but the police are unable to solve all of them because there is no relationship between them and the community but now we found a way to form a partnership,” he said.
Soshanguve police head of support services Colonel Tshoene Makhafola said giving the community sanitary towels was a way of giving back to the community.
“We want them to continue to work with us, not against us, and the pamphlets will help them to deal with domestic violence against women and children,” she said.
She added that most of the community members don’t understand GBVF.
“They shouldn’t keep quiet, we want them to come forward and report it,” she said.
She said they contributed money along with Soshanguve Taxi Owners Association, Men for Change and the Women’s Network to buy the sanitary towels.
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