Efforts to influence change
IN RECOGNITION of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign, the City of joburg has called for global action to increase awareness, galvanise advocacy efforts and share knowledge and innovations to prevent and end violence against women and children.
The campaign takes place every year from November 25 to December 10. This campaign was adopted in 1998 as one of the strategies towards creating a society free of violence.
Former member of mayoral committee for group corporate and shared services, Ntombi Khumalo, whose portfolio was responsible for employees in the city, said women around the world experienced physical and/ or sexual violence on a daily basis, at home, in society and at the workplace.
Khumalo said South Africa was not immune to violence against women and children, hence the need for society and various organisations to play a meaningful role to change the way both males and females perceive violence.
“In recent years, the voices of survivors and activists, through campaigns such as #MeToo, #NotOneMore, #NoExcuse, #NotInMyName, and others, have put the spotlight on the issue of sexual violence and have reached a crescendo that cannot be silenced or ignored any more.
“We all need to be intolerable to any form of violence, period. We need the law to be intolerant to these violent acts. Heavy consequences should be non-negotiable,” said Khumalo.
According to Aurie Kwatsha, deputy director of employment equity and diversity management in the group human capital management unit, the City has partnered with Positive Flames South Africa, an organisation dealing with gender-based violence to sensitise, educate and create awareness on this scourge to the employees of the City during these 16 days.
These organisations would provide the City with prominent speakers, at no cost, Kwatsha said. The sessions would be rolled out in all seven regions of the city to raise awareness about the negative impact of violence against women and children on society, she said.