Hundreds attend silent protest against gender violence

THE HIV and Aids centre at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) hosted its fifth annual silent protest against gender-based violence on Wednesday.

The protest, held to raise awareness and show solidarity with survivors of gender-based violence, saw hundreds of students taking part.

Head of the HIV and Aids centre at DUT, Thobile Zulu, said that the march was providing support to victims of gender-based violent crimes.

“We want to assist victims and they should not keep quiet about these issues because we can assist where we can,” Zulu said.

Zulu added that gender-based violence, HIV and Aids were connected, adding that medication should be given to rape victims.

“We advocate that they should be able to access the medication like post exposure prophylaxis in case they have been raped, so that it reduces the chances of them having infections because of a correlation between gender-based violence and HIV and Aids.”

Matt Tsolo, a journalism student at DUT, said the protest united people.

“I am here with the survivors to say that I relate because it happened to my aunt and I am here to support them. We do have some similarities at the end of the day,” Tsolo said.

He asked victims not to be silence about the abuse they were subjected to.

“If you are facing gender-based violence, this is the perfect place as they are channels where you can speak out and be able to get help, do not let the perpetrators get away.”

Secretary of the student representative council Phumlani Sithole said that togetherness was vital in tackling gender-based violence.