IN a bid to contribute to highlighting and addressing the extremely high rates of gender-based violence (GBV) that permeate communities across South Africa, Sindi Ngongoma, originally from Embo, has released a song called Sanctuary.
ALSO READ: WATCH: Clermont upcoming artist heals through his music
The song emphasises the horror so many women in our country are going through, with the words, “I’m born into war, I’m born into sexual slavery, I’m battered, I’m bruised, I’m shackled, I’m stripped of my dignity, I’m drugged, I’m raped, I’m beaten, I’m killed. Is there a sanctuary for us who are born in war? Sanctuary, which is currently available on YouTube, Spotify and iTunes, was written by Ngongoma in response to the various challenges faced by women in our land, often at the hands of the very people who are meant to protect them. Ngongoma, a financial manager, has always loved singing as a hobby.
ALSO READ: 3 Durban fashionistas claim top 10 spots in Vodacom Durban July Young Designer Award
While growing up in the Valley of 1000 Hills, she enjoyed singing as part of a choir at church, school and weddings.
To play her part in reducing the high rate of GBV, the mother of two girls decided to use her talent to write and sing a song to conscientise people about the damage caused by women abuse.
“I actually wrote the song in 2015 but was motivated to record it after seeing how distressed my daughter was over the rape and murder of a young woman in August last year,” said Ngongoma.
“I felt I couldn’t sit back and do nothing. I wanted my daughter to see her mom responding to the situation and doing something to tackle the brutality that large numbers of women face.”
After putting together a melody, she workshopped the song with her musician friend, Louis Mhlanga, a guitarist, who further assisted her in finding artists to play the instruments on Sanctuary.
Haunting and heartbreaking, the song consists of Ngongoma’s powerful words together with the beautiful sounds of drums, a bass guitar and keyboard which are played by Rob Watson, Michael Phillips and Randal Skippers. Garrick Van Der Tuin engineered the song.
“Sanctuary is a wailing song, a cry for help,” explained Ngongoma.
“With this song, I am crying for the women who cried, but were not heard, who pleaded but their pleas fell on deaf ears. I am wailing on their behalf so that the nation does not forget the excruciating pain that is felt at midnight, the sobbing that happens at twilight, the horrors that are left for us to pick up in the morning and the arresting fear that grips us by day,” she said. The crime statistics recently released by the South African Police Services state that sexual offences have increased over the past year and that about 58 people are murdered a day in South Africa.
“It is so important that we intensify our efforts to pull together to battle our violent crime scourge.”In marking Women’s Month, we are reminded of what the former brave women who walked this land did for us,” said Ngongoma.
She said with this song, she would like to remind South Africans that today women, in particular, in this emancipated land are murdered, are trafficked, are forced into prostitution and young girls go missing.
“Let this song play, let it be engraved in our minds, let this Women’s Month be not only for those who stood against the evils of apartheid. Let it also be for the women who were and are murdered in this emancipated land that the former brave women fought for,” said Ngongoma.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
Dear reader, As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).
At the time of going to press, the contents of this feature mirrored South Africa’s lockdown regulations.
