A platform to empower women while celebrating legends in the entertainment industry was set in motion.

A first-of-its-kind platform to empower women while fighting gender-based violence was launched through a concert in Melrose Arch. The first of many-more-to-come Black Pearls Foundation Legacy Concerts was launched at The Venue on the evening of March 25. Event MC Harmony Mbele said the platform advocated for and empowered women as well as made sure that every woman was loved.

Singer and global goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Yvonne Chaka Chaka said, “Marriage is a beautiful thing but it is not the ultimate thing. We all have to love our husbands and husbands have to love us as their wives, not trample on us. Gender-based violence has become so rife in this country that we, as parents, tell our children to bekezela [isiZulu for be patient] – don’t bekezela in a gender-based violence marriage. We don’t encourage violence, we encourage love, respect, tolerance.”

CEO of Black Pearls Foundation Dr Khumoetsile Moetse said it was called a legacy concert because they wanted to leave a legacy of healing, justice and empowerment.
“This is about celebrating legends while empowering women,” she said.
“So, this is a platform of empowerment especially in the entertainment industry because we recognise and realise that the industry, both locally and globally, is the most affected by gender-based violence. We want to create an impact because gender-based violence affects us, economically too.

“We have done this to make sure that we leave the world better than we found it.”
She added that gender-based violence was a war.
“We have a history behind us of all those who started this all the way in Copenhagen back in 1910, who gathered and said ‘enough is enough’.
“We want the rights of women to be prioritised and the voice of women to be heard, and all the way to 1956, inspired by women like Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Albertina Sisulu, and all the unsung heroes that have left a train for us to step on and declare that in 2022, we are going to start a journey of ending gender-based violence in our lifetime.”

Performer of the night Kelly Khumalo said, “Our grandparents and our generation had experienced gender-based violence, therefore, it is a constant fight where other forces try to silence us but not this time, we will not be silenced by anyone.”

Moetse said profits made from the events would be ploughed back into women’s activities to enable them to own their stories, in platforms they own and language they prefer.

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