WATCH: #TotalShutdown calls for end to gender violence
Scores of women clad in black and red took part in the #TotalShutdown
ENOUGH is enough! That was the cry sent out by women who gathered on Wednesday to protest gender-based violence in South Africa. Scores of women clad in black and red took part in the #TotalShutdown march at Curries Fountain.
The movement called for a shutdown of economic activity for the day or at least a pause between 1pm and 1.30pm as a show of solidarity with their plight.
Onica Makwakwa, national liaison for #TheTotalShutdown: Intersectional Women’s March Against Grievous Bodily Violence (GBV) said the movement was started via social media, and has grown to mobilise all women to stand against gender-based violence.
“The campaign was started by a group of ordinary women who felt that they just seen one too many posts for missing women and knew exactly how that story would end, with them being found dead and usually their partner being responsible for their death. We decided to organise to basically say that we need to be serious about bringing an end to gender-based-violence in this country,” she said.
Memorandums are set to be handed over to the government, parliament and other provincial and local structures. The list of demands being handed over includes, “a commitment from the office of the president never to appoint any individual who has been implicated or minimizes the causes and consequences of GBV to cabinet, or to lead a state institution. There were a total of 19 marches planned on Wednesday, including separate demonstrations in Botswana, Namibia and Lesotho.
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