Johannesburg - The femicide rate in South Africa is five times higher than the global average. SA has the highest rate of rape in the world. 51% of SA children under the age of 17 were exposed to sexual content, 34% to hate speech and 33% to violent content online. Seven women are murdered daily.
It’s against the backdrop of these shocking statistics that Primestars, a company that specialises in facilitating youth development programmes for high school learners from under-served communities, launched its What About the Boys anti-GBV campaign.
The launch, at the JSE building in Sandton, was the same place where almost 20 years ago, the Take a Girl Child to Work Day campaign was started. And it drew the who's who of SA’s political female voices. In attendance were former first lady, Zanele Mbeki, former deputy president, Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Dr Judy Dlamini, Social Development Minister, Lindiwe Zulu and Johannesburg mayor, Dr Mpho Phalatse. Primestars MD, Martin Sweet said the aim of the campaign is to raise a nation of good men, and tackle GBV head on.
“The fact is South Africa is an unsafe country for women. When you Google sexual abuse statistics by country, you find that South Africa has the highest rate of rape in the world. Startling figures recently released show that underage girls, many of them as young as 10 are falling pregnant. As the age of consent for both boys and girls is 16, these girls were technically raped. Worldwide 27% of women and girls aged 15 and older have experienced either physical or sexual intimate partner violence.
“ In South Africa this figure is a shocking one third or even up to 50%. Male violence and aggression towards women are nothing less than a pandemic,” he said.
Quoting Elie Wiesel, a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor, Sweet reminded South Africans that “Human suffering anywhere, concerns men and women everywhere”.
“We have a responsibility to take action, not by way of billboards and adverts alone, but a coordinated national preventative intervention, starting with boys, that will address the problem at its root. As social reformer, writer and statesman Frederick Douglass said: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men”.
Sweet added that the campaign aims to reach 50 000 young boys from 100 different schools across the country.
“No commensurate movement has emerged to help boys navigate toward a full expression of their gender. At first glance, statistics would suggest that boys are struggling and need more support and guidance than ever before. They drop out of school, get lower grades, develop addictions to substances and pornography, drive recklessly, engage in unsafe sex, are diagnosed as emotionally disturbed, commit suicide more often than girls, get into fights more often and are more likely to be treated for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). School shootings and stabbings, what do they have in common? Guns and knives – yes, but also boys. Girls aren’t pulling the triggers. It’s almost always boys. Boys are broken,” he said.
Sweet said it was important to stress that masculinity is not something we can or should eradicate, it exists in everyone. And while it can be toxic and dangerous, it can also be associated with resilience, and success.
“Boys need to learn to distinguish between the positive and the negative traits of masculinity so that they can be empowered to become good men,” he said.
In her keynote address, Mlambo-Ngcuka said GBV is a big challenge and a crime that is not prosecuted enough.
“Women don’t feel comfortable telling SAPS or even social workers about what happened to them. They do tell their doctors though. This is a public health crisis,” she said.
Mlambo-Ngcuka also stressed that GBV is an economic issue as many women are financially dependent on men.
“When a woman is beaten up, she cannot go to work. For many men, their best definition of themselves is when they are hitting someone and that needs to change. What kind of men will our boys become if this is what they see on a daily basis? “she concluded.
Zulu in turn gave an undertaking that she would take the Primestars message to the desk of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“This must be actioned. Who makes a 10-year-old girl pregnant? It’s not a 10-year-old boy,” she said.
Joburg mayor, Dr Mpho Phalatse said as the mother of two young boys, it is her duty to make sure that young boys across SA need to know they can be more and better.
“Finally someone’s asking the right question. What about the boys? Women have for too long believed that they cannot survive without men. Relationships are almost always transactional. Men are experiencing identity crises because women are now the protectors and providers. We also need greater assistance from SAPS,” Phalatse stressed.
On August 13, Primestars will release its film, “What About The Boys” across the country to address the scourge of GBV.