WATCH: Driving the conversation about gender-based violence
During their engagement, most of the men vented to the MMC, complaining about police officers who do not take violence against them seriously when reported at the station and as a result they resort to taking matters into their own hands.
The MMC for Health and Social Development, Dr Mpho Phalatse and the PR councillor for Ward 114, Belinda Echeozonjoku, recently went on a walkabout in the Zandspruit informal settlement to get first-hand information about the gender-based violence tormenting the area.
Clad in DA regalia, bearing umbrellas and wearing shades on the scorching Saturday morning of 5 October, Mpho and her small group of proactive party supporters walked confidently through the community as they engaged both men and women about the causes of abuse against women and children.
During their engagement, most of the men vented to the MMC, complaining about police officers who do not take violence against them seriously when reported at the station and as a result they resort to taking matters into their own hands.
Mpho, who reflected on the visit, highlighted the aim of having such discussions. “We came to Zandspruit to raise awareness against gender-based violence and get people talking about it because a lot of it is happening and mostly people are not talking about it. It’s seen as an embarrassing thing, especially for men,” she said.
She added, “What we learnt was that violence is happening a lot to men. They are dying in silence and retaliate with gender-based violence by beating up their wives, because nobody is taking them seriously and they’re being laughed at”.
Part of Mpho’s visit was not only to listen to the problems but to sensitise the community to the issue, and find solutions. “We also came out to make people aware of the programmes that the City of Johannesburg is offering to assist people, such as the Men’s Forums where they can discuss these issues. For instance, if a man doesn’t know how to deal with a matter except by beating up his woman, the Men’s Forums can offer him a mentor and training modules such as conflict resolution, which teaches them how to handle the situation in future,” she explained.
She further explained that as a City, they have a rich network of partners and stakeholders to partner with to resolve matters. “For instance, if the community members say the police aren’t taking them seriously, we are able to bring the police on board and make them aware of the problems and then allow them to go back and re-look at how they can improve services, particularly at the front desk,” she explained.
She added that this activity was the first of many in the city to drive the conversation about gender-based violence. “This is the first of many and we need people to start having these conversations. But also we want people to know that it’s not a normal thing to act with violence because there are other ways of dealing with such problems. We also don’t want society to end up getting used to gender-based violence as if its normal, so that if you hear someone screaming next door you do nothing,” Mpho stated.
