Mayor gets it in neck for inaction
Pakati’s bodyguard accused of pushing aside #TotalShutDown leader
Tensions ran high outside the East London City Hall on Tuesday after a bodyguard of Buffalo City Metro mayor Xola Pakati allegedly “aggressively” pushed #TotalShutDown movement’s spokesperson Aphiwe Ntlemeza.
Ntlemeza, who was at the city hall with a group of women to hand over a memorandum, had been walking behind the mayor.
Pakati accepted the memorandum without saying a word to the crowd, before heading inside where councillors were holding a council meeting.
About 100 women in East London had joined their counterparts nationally on marches against violence against women and children.
Before the mayor went inside council chambers, an angry Ntlemeza spoke out about the incident.
“This is a typical example of what we came here for, I am really saddened and angry that the mayor’s bodyguard just aggressively pushed me away while I was trying to walk past to a journalist who was calling me,” she said.
Ntlemeza blasted Pakati for not addressing the issue.
“This shows that even our political figures do not care about this [gender-based violence]. He did not say anything to us; he is just doing his job.
“His bodyguard pushed me aside right in front of him.
“He should have at least said something about that yet he just took the memorandum and walked away,” she said.
One of the marchers was heard shouting: “Fire him. He does not deserve to be working for the municipality.”
Pakati could not be reached for comment at the time of writing on Wednesday.
Wednesday marked the beginning of Women’s Month. It is also the month during which the annual silent protest is held – the biggest protest in SA that aims to draw attention to and challenge the culture of silence around sexual violence.
Siyamthanda Ndlela, from Soul City, an organisation that works with abused children and women in the Eastern Cape, travelled with girls from rural areas outside Komani, Mthatha, Butterworth and Dutywa to the march.
“I came here with the girls from the rural areas because in the villages, gender-based violence is taken as a normal thing.
“We want these girls to know their rights, to know what is right and wrong and put an end to having women being raped by their husbands and neighbours,” said Ndlela.
The women, clad in red and black, carried placards that read: “We stand as one”, and “Stop beating women, stop abusing us, my body is not your scene scene”. Some of the women shared their personal stories.
Thozamile Mtini said many cases of abuse were still not being reported because of the treatment from police.
“I am a victim of abuse. When we go to the police to report it, it becomes a struggle.
“One time I went to report to the police and they told me to go back to my husband and talk to him because this would also affect our children. Women must speak out when they are hurt.”
Nwabisa Dlova, from Sibumb’ Ingomso, agreed.
“We all know someone here who has been raped and never reported the case because nothing gets done.
“Our kids get raped as young as two months in our homes, our grannies also get raped and assaulted in our communities.
“We are tired and we want to see justice for the cases that are reported.”
In Grahamstown, one group marched from Rhodes University, and the other from Makhanda East, meeting opposite the city hall.
Women spoke of how they were tired of being victims of gender-based violence.
“Every week we hear of someone that has been killed by their boyfriend or lover.
“Every week we must go and inquire about our sisters when they disappear,” she said.