Durban — Individuals and entities in Durban that are against gender-based violence say it is pivotal to have conversations around the scourge to fight it effectively.
Women gathered in their numbers at uMlazi township’s Community Hall in V section, in the south of Durban, where the eThekwini Municipality, through its Community Participation and Action Support Unit and Gender Office hosted a Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Dialogue on Sunday, as part of Women’s Month commemorations.
Various government departments shared their efforts and initiatives to combat GBV in uMlazi and surrounds.
Acting manager for the Vulnerable Groups, Gender and Youth Department at the eThekwini Municipality, Nothemba Gambushe, said women fell victim to abuse in many forms – sexual, physical and verbal – and that the municipality hosted the programme to address these issues. She said that they had an ultimate agenda.
“We want to make sure that women report cases of GBV. We also do not want instances where someone drops charges just because their abusers say they are remorseful.”
Gambushe noted that men also fell victim to GBV and called on them to actively fight against it.
“We encourage men to go and report cases because you often hear of stories where men do not report their cases because they are ridiculed and laughed at.
“There is no such thing as ‘a man does not cry’ because when you do not express yourself, you suffer emotionally and you end up dying before your time.”
Gambushe said they were putting in the effort to address GBV, but the government had more work to do.
Court Intermediary Zamazulu Zulu said the community could play a role in fighting GBV by working alongside the SAPS and the Department of Justice.
“You often find it is community members who end up hiding the perpetrators, while the families also hide the perpetrators. In some instances, women end up saying they do not want the perpetrator to be arrested just frightened – this is problematic because in some cases people actually die,” said Zulu.
Meanwhile, Thabiso Marillier, who is the programmes manager at TransHope, a non-profit organisation that advocates for the rights of transgender and gender-diverse people in KZN, said that they welcomed the event.
“It is Women’s Month and people look at a woman as someone who can give birth, has breasts and all the other features that are regarded as being that of a woman by society at large.
“We are giving transgender and gender diverse people the opportunity to say ‘hey we are women enough’. There is no such thing as we are lacking because we do not have certain features. We are human before becoming women,” he said.
Marillier said that they wished more people would be capacitated and educated about trans and gender-diverse persons and to have a safe space in society.
“It starts with educating the ones willing to learn and then they can go to their respective homes and educate other individuals within the homes.”
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