GBV survivors need more support

Last Friday marked the start of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children.

This year the theme is “UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls”.

Despite numerous awareness campaigns being run by the government, gender-based violence remains a plague in our country.

More needs to be done to ensure that survivors of gender-based violence can access the resources they need to heal from the trauma they have suffered.

In addition, the DNA backlog needs to be addressed as this means justice for the survivors of gender-based violence will be delayed and only adds to the trauma that they have suffered.

All victim empowerment centres must be fully functional and equipped with all the resources needed to provide support to all our vulnerable members of the community.

Furthermore, we call on our police officers and social workers who are dealing with survivors of gender-based violence to be more sensitive in how they handle the cases presented to them.

In doing this, we will ensure that all vulnerable members of our society who fall prey to the scourge of gender-based violence will have the courage to report such cases.

Jade Miller, DA member of the Gauteng provincial legislature