Police Minister Bheki Cele led a first of its kind Imbizo for Men at the Desmond Tutu community hall in Makhaza, Khayelitsha. He was joined by Western Cape Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Thembekile Patekile, Community Safety and Police Oversight MEC Reagan Allen, community leaders, organisations and residents. They signed a pledge to end Gender-Based Violence. Picture: Phando Jikelo/African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - Khayelitsha residents and senior police officials came together at an Imbizo for Men in Makhaza in an effort to enhance the active and meaningful participation of men in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) and domestic violence and sexual offences.
Organisations including the Khayelitsha Development Forum (KDF), Baphi Abafazi Movement, Neighbourhood watches and Community Police Forums (CPFs) along with Minister of Police Bheki Cele and MEC for Community Safety and Police Oversight Reagan Allen were in attendance at the Desmond Tutu Community Hall on Monday.
“The leadership, senior police officers and the residents of Khayelitsha came out in numbers to attend the Imbizo,” Cele said.
“This cannot be a Khayelitsha matter alone.
“It will have to move to other places, especially those that have this problem. Such places include Eastern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
“Men should learn to talk amongst themselves and stop this thing of not taking this serious.
“It is a pandemic and it needs to be treated that way.
“Coming together and talking about such issues will help men to fight gender-based violence.
“As a young man, where do you even begin to beat and rape your mother? I just can't comprehend it in my head,” Cele said.
KDF chairperson Ndithini Tyhido said the issue of GBV needed to be treated seriously and decisively.
“Young boys need to be taught from a young age about GBV so that they respect their mothers and sisters from an early stage. We need to preach about GBV every day and even in churches. We need to go to pubs and taverns because most of the time GBV is committed by people who are under the influence of alcohol. They too need to be told that alcohol is not an excuse to abuse women and children.
We cannot as a society normalise this and the justice system needs to play its role when sentencing the perpetrators,” said Tyhido.
Allen said residents needed to work together with CPF, police and neighbourhood watches.
“We can actually eradicate GBV from our communities. When we look at the statistics, we see the high number of GBV cases. It's not only a number. We think of the victims who are raped and murdered by their partners. The perpetrators are walking on the streets.”
Cape Times
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