Day 60/100
NSPGBVF Pillar 3 is all about justice, safety and protection for survivors of GBV and Femicide victims, and effectively holding perpetrators accountable for their actions.
The 100-Day Challenge team in Tzaneen is focused on increasing the reporting of sexual offenses and domestic violence cases from the rural areas. They have been very busy with community awareness campaigns to educate victims to break the silence and start reporting cases to the relevant authorities. The response has been positive in that now about 17% of cases are being reported, a huge increase. Their strategy was to encourage victims to break the silence and report cases rather than mediating such cases as families or taking them to the traditional counsel. The spinoff is that fewer rape cases, especially those which involve minor children, juvenile minors, and minor victims, have been withdrawn.
The only obstacle the team has encountered is that most members are NGOs that are severely under-resourced which leads to issues, particularly when it comes to transportation, similarly when it comes to beneficiaries, many of whom are disabled. “But we assist each other wherever we can in order to achieve our goal and to help our community,” said Refilwe Moshabela, team leader. Despite the challenges, NGOs and social workers have all joined in on the community awareness campaign.
“Healing is not only for the victims that are affected by GBV, but as a country we need healing. We’ve gone through a lot with our history explaining that we haven’t really dealt with issues. There’s so much anger that is bottled in and that needs to be released. So in some of these interventions where people are dealing with survivors of gender-based violence, they should also try opening it up to hear what other people are saying, including the perpetrators. Why are they really committing these crimes? What is leading them into this?” said Sibs Mthembu, Office of the President.
For questions or to arrange an interview with any of the team leaders, please contact Candice Ludick on [email protected] or 060 715 3607.