#HearMeToo marks the theme for 16 Days of Activism
Earlier this year police revealed to members of parliament that more than 3 000 cases were reported over the 2017/18 year.
SUNDAY, 25 November marked the beginning of the annual campaign calling for an end to women and children abuse. In Durban men and women from all walks of life gathered to emphasise the importance of the campaign, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence that runs until 10 December.
In collaboration with the eThekwini Civil Society, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation gathered at Durban’s City Hall on Friday, 23 November. This year’s theme is #HearMeToo.
Addressing the crowd of women and women gathered outside the Durban City Hall, regional policy and advocacy manager at the Aids Healthcare Foundation, Larissa Klazinga said,”What we want to do is to remind the public that there is a real cost to women’s lives. We know too many people who are not with us anymore. Yolanda Ndaba, was brutally killed, brutally stoned to death and raped in Pietermaritzburg. Her only crime was walking past a group of men who were offended when she ignored their ‘hey baby’. They thought they had a right to her body and now there are two children without a mother.”
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Ndaba forms part of the country’s escalating statistics of thousands of women who lose their lives at the hands of men.
Earlier this year police revealed to members of parliament that more than 3 000 cases were reported over the 2017/18 year.
The statistics further revealed that a total number of 36 731 sexual offences were committed against women during the year under review. Even though the number is still relatively high, this was a 1.7 per cent drop compared to the previous year.
“It isn’t just the violence that happens to women’s, children’s, or gay men’s bodies, it’s the depression afterwards. It’s the shame, it’s the substance abuse and all the secrecy that comes with the violation. Today we are creating a living memoriam of all those who are not with us because of rape and were murdered,” added Klazinga.
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She went on to urge all communities to join in the fight against GBV.
“I need for you to help our country remember what is the cost of us doing nothing and saying boys will always be boys or men will always be men. Stigma, fear and toxic masculinity must be confronted if we are to resist patriarchy and find ways to address the epidemic of gender-based violence that is driving HIV infections in our province,” she said.
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