Summit on femicide will be held
President will honour memo
DEPUTY President David Mabuza said President Cyril Ramaphosa would honour the demands of a memorandum handed to him this month and would host a Women’s Summit that would focus on femicide in the country.
Organisers of #TheTotal-Shutdown march which took place on August 1 urged the president to convene a summit to show that government was serious about ending gender-based violence.
Mabuza was speaking at the launch of Takuwani Riime National Men’s Summit in Ballito, north of Durban, yesterday. Takuwani Riime is a Tshivenda expression meaning “let us stand up together”.
“To those women who marched and presented a memo to the president, the president has agreed that the summit must happen. It is my responsibility to ensure that the summit will happen. No one can stop it. This is a matter that needs all of us. We must confront it.”
Mabuza, who along with government was criticised at yesterday’s event for a lack of political will, said there was a willingness from government to implement legislation to protect women and children.
He also questioned why a gathering of men was necessary in a country with one of the strongest constitutions in the world.
“Why must men meet, as men, in post-apartheid and democratic South Africa, in 2018?
“After all, we lay claim to have one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, a constitution for a non-racial, non-sexist, just and prosperous country.
“Yet men in South Africa have to meet as men, because men in South Africa kill women.”
Mabuza said the country’s femicide rate has been increasing over the past five years.
“In the last year alone, we lost 2 639 women. These are lives that leave motherless children; deaths that rob families of their daughters; a socio-economic crime that robs us of a potential contribution of 1% of the gross domestic product.”
Mandisa Khanyile, #TheTotalShutdown’s strategy and wellness co-ordinator, took to the podium before Mabuza and urged him to ensure that implementation of legislation aimed at protecting women takes place.
“We are disappointed that the gender summit that we marched to, has been postponed by this government. Women die with protection orders in their hands in this country,” she said.
Mbulawa Mugabe, the UNAids country director, said yesterday’s summit in Ballito should not be just for critical thinking and dialogue but must be a movement that will define what needs to be done in the future.
Mugabe said former secretary-general of the UN Kofi Annan, who died on Saturday, was a strong voice for gender equality.
“In one of his statements to mark World Aids Day, he said too many women are still denied basic human rights. He called this the most pervasive human rights violation in history.
“Today, with the #MeToo and #TheTotalShutdown and other organisations, we have come to a stage where we need to talk but also act on the dark part of humanity.”