Measures to tackling scourge of GBV in SA
THIS is an open public letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, SAPS management, politicians whose portfolios address women and children, social services in all public and private institutions and the general public.
Firstly, I want to address the wording used by politicians in this heated, passionate issue of genderbased violence directed or being committed against some of our women and children.
No one can say, not even the state president, that we must STOP gender based violence.
But we can TRY.
The wording must be TRY, not STOP.
The politicians must be very careful what they are saying because legal experts can break down every word and hold those uttering or writing statements to account to their detriment or advantage depending on their interpretation.
Secondly, I want to propose the following measures which no one does or speaks about, and that is gaining intelligence by interviewing the suspects and criminals who are guilty of gender-based violence to get to the reasons why they committed gender-based violence – what gave raise to them committing these crimes?
The surviving victims must be included in these intelligencegathering interviews to ascertain what facts, if any, led to them becoming the victims of genderbased violence. The results of these intelligence-gathering interviews could be analysed and the information and or facts or trends could be divulged to possible victims – that’s you and me and our children etc so that we can use it to try to prevent being victims.
Intelligence is knowledge, and is better than silence.
The president made statements with regards to the Sex Offenders Register – no bail and life in prison.
What the president must do, as he saw the mood of the crowds and heard their cries that enough is enough, is to make sure that these promised amendments be made as soon as possible, even before the year ends.
That same speedy vigour the politicians exercise when they take issues to court that affect them, that shame vigour and speed must be exercised via the Cabinet and the courts to realise these promises.
Time is no longer a luxury that politicians can enjoy as the people are, to put it bluntly, gatvol. order of the day. We have men who attack and violate women and children as their right. These perpetrators were not born monsters. Please, let’s start some proper action now to curb this horror.
I appeal to our professionals – social workers, psychologists, councillors, mental health practitioners to get to the root of this madness. Gather together these men and assess the cause of their dastardly deeds. Surely, there is healing that can be done to stop them from repeating their acts of violence and hatred.
More importantly, I would like to propose we introduce a compulsory course at our schools, incrementally from Grade 1 to Grade 12, to educate our kids to understand that this behaviour of adults is unacceptable.
Teach them that our society does not condone abuse, drunkenness, drugs and violence. Try to get them to understand why this happens, and give them skills to deal with it.
If only, from an early age we can teach our children the essential shared values of respect and love for all human beings this world would be a better place, and we could all live in peace.
Granny Cynthia cannot sleep at night. pregnant women to abstain from alcohol use during pregnancy.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is the leading known cause of preventable mental retardation and while the effects last a lifetime, there is no treatment. It is preventable and the reality is that no amount of alcohol is safe during pregnancy.
Part of the social development awareness sessions include dispelling the myths around FASD.
Some of these include:
● You must be an alcoholic for your child to be affected.
● An occasional alcoholic drink during pregnancy is okay.
● It’s too late to stop drinking. The truth is if a woman does not drink during pregnancy, the child will not develop FASD and the best time to stop drinking is when you are planning to have a baby. If you’re already pregnant, or think you may be, stop drinking.
When a pregnant woman drinks, her unborn baby is damaged by the alcohol as the alcohol she consumes is absorbed through the bloodstream and reaches the unborn baby.
Alcohol is poisonous and it may damage any of the unborn baby’s organs. The brain is the most vulnerable organ and all children with FASD have a mild to severe degree of permanent brain damage.
The city’s SDECD programme raises awareness around the issue of FAS which is as a direct result of drinking during pregnancy. The workshop offers referrals to treatment where necessary and targets women from 18-35 years old.
The SDECD department offers the FAS awareness sessions. For the 2019/2020 financial year the awareness session will be held 40 times reaching approximately 1 200 persons.