Campaign champions women’s liberation from abuse
DURBAN: Phumzile-Mlambo Ngcuka, the under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women has urged South Africans not to squander their chances to fight the scourge of women and child abuse, saying there was still “hope for the country”.
“Often when I travel to other countries and I see what the situation is like over there, I always say to myself let us (South Africans) not play with this thing, we can still do right on this thing.”
She was speaking at an Edcon UNiTE Orange Campaign event in Tongaat yesterday. Also present were First Lady Bongi Ngema-Zuma, MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Sihle Zikalala, and the MEC for Social Development, Weziwe Thusi.
The campaign was launched in November last year and aims to assist women who are survivors of abuse.
Some were victims of sexual assault as children and others were victims of violence, emotional and economic abuse by their partners.
The campaign, which comes as South Africa honours women this month, equips women with skills with which they can make a living. The country has among the highest prevalence of abuse and rape, with many victims also contracting sexually transmitted diseases.
The survivors of abuse said the programme had allowed them to change their lives and be able to look after their families.
One said it had given her back her self-esteem, that she was now able to sit with important people and be able to view herself as one of those people.
“I have travelled to countries like Afghanistan, for instance, where a woman is the property of the family. She could be killed by her brothers if she decided to marry a man the family does not approve
I have travelled to Afghanistan where a woman is the property of the family
of,” said Mlambo-Ngcuka. “She could be killed by her mother-in-law, if the motherin-law decided that the woman is not a suitable bride,” she said.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said in South Africa alone, more than 147 cases of violence against women are reported each day and there were more that went unreported.
She said the stereotypes held against women were hampering the fight against abuse saying if it was treated like a disease such as Zika virus it could have attracted more attention. “The stereotypes and the loneliness that comes with reporting the cases of abuse has prevented many women from coming forward and has prevented the fight against abuse taken seriously.”
She said South Africa, and especially KwaZulu-Natal, had a problem with violence, but there was still hope because there were still men who were willing to stand up for women.
Bernie Brookes, chief executive of Edcon, said they aimed to take the campaign to all nine provinces. from being