ANC members laugh at DA Cllr speech on gender-based violence

The African National Congress (ANC) in Joburg has been accused of making a mockery of a Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor’s speech on rape, femicide, and gender-based violence, reports Fourways Review.

DA councillor Nazley Sharif, the Section 79 Gender, Youth, and People with Disabilities (Geyodi) chairperson, delivered a speech in council on these issues at the September council sitting.

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During her address, ANC councillors were accused of laughing, howling, and making snide comments.

“This shows the level of disregard for real-life issues that affect people. The ANC Joburg caucus behaved in this inexcusable manner in front of ANC womxn, who did not reprimand their male counterparts,” Sharif said. Womxn is a more inclusive way of spelling ‘women’, which avoids the men suffix.

The speech Sharif delivered was titled, ‘We have nothing to celebrate and everything to mourn’, which was aimed at highlighting the increase of femicide and rape in women and children.

“The speech highlighted the rate in which femicide, rape and gender-based violence in South Africa have increased,” she said.

“I called out the names of 10 victims who died at the hands of men and showed their faces and was met with laughter, howling and politicking by the ANC Joburg Caucus.

“These are comments from men who have been elected into leadership positions.”

But the ANC’s spokesperson Jolidee Matongo said the party believes femicide and gender-based violence is a sensitive matter and a ‘problem that needs to be dealt with’.

He disputed that the councillors were making a mockery of Sharif’s speech and that they were actually shocked that the councillors spoke on the matter when a motion to implement new policing structures to curb crime was rejected by the coalition government just before she spoke.

Matongo said: “Crime has increased in particular against women. Through the motion, we wanted to have an agreement to implement a ward-based policing programme with two cars and eight JMPD officers per ward. They will then work with the councillor to target hotspots and come up with a plan of action.”

Matongo said this motion was rejected by the DA.

“ANC councillors asked why the motion to create a safer environment was just rejected and now she is lamenting the high crime rate. Is it not a contradiction of the stance that the DA took earlier on?”

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