Pastor urges people to speak about abuse
Gender based violence is not a private matter, it should be reported to the police
THE Anglican Church of St John The Baptist in Payne Street, Pinetown, hosted a gender-based violence community talk on Saturday, 20 August.
The talk was attended by Mzoxolo Rusi, NPA senior state advocate, General Phumelele Makhoba, Umgungundlovu cluster commander, victims of abuse and organisations who advised women and victims of abuse.
Pastor Forbes Maupe said the talk was inspired by the murder of their church member, Thulisile Lembede, who was a victim of domestic violence, and an initiative from a thesis he wrote at UKZN called Dying in the name of love.
“I have done research to find out what the church has done about gender violence. There are only a few cases where we, as a church, have stood up and talked about this abuse against women.”
Maupe said it was even worse when lesbian women were raped. We keep quite and turn a blind eye as if they deserve it.”
He said gender-based violence started somewhere, it could be verbal or diminishing someone.
“Men are possessive and jealous, some men have been raised with a mentality that they should control women. The only way they did that was to sexually abuse them or use them as their punching bags.
“The mentality has even been channeled to other women. It is such a shame that when a woman had been beaten or killed by her partner, the first thing other women asked was “what did she do to provoke him”.
Maupe added that gender-based violence was not a private matter. It was a crime and the perpetrators should be reported to the police.
General Phumelele Makhoba spoke more about what was domestic violence and steps the victims should take.
“Any form of abuse; cultural, physical, psychological and economical should be reported to the police .”Even when your husband refuses to give you money, that is abuse.”
Makhoba said domestic violence was between two people, it could be a person you have child with, a person you are sharing a residence with, a partner, a husband or a family member.
“A family member or a neighbour can report a case of domestic violence on behalf of a victim, so people should not keep quite when they see signs of violence.
She added that it was not only women who were abused, but men too, and they should not be afraid to report it.
