WATCH: “I am a woman, equal and worthy. No means no!”
#TheTotalShutdown round-up.
The beginning of Women’s Month started off with a big bang of women and gender non-conforming survivors in red and black across the country.
On August 1, women, gender non-conforming people; the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA) communities joined forces to march against gender-based violence and child abuse.
The march was organised by a group which recently formed by feminists and gender activists on Facebook called The Total Shutdown: Intersectional March Against Gender-Base-Violence (GBV) about seven weeks ago.
In Gauteng, marchers walked the streets of Pretoria and headed towards the Union Buildings where the organisers would hand over a memorandum to President Cyril Ramaphosa demanding change in the justice system.
VIDEO 1:
Marchers were asked to dress in red and black to represent the blood of the victims who lost their lives or those who are still fighting for their lives, and the black represented mourning.
The march started as early as 5 am when women woke up to catch the buses at the pick-up spots, in the buses women sang their struggle songs and some worked on their placards.
Throughout the day women shared their stories of abuse and during a moment of silence many broke down into tears as they sat in the street thinking of the loved ones they have lost due to gender-based violence.
VIDEO 2:
Many women who spoke out all had a common point and that was that the justice system had failed them and that they see their perpetrators roaming freely in the streets.
Once marchers arrived at the Union Buildings, organisers and activist spoke to the crowd sharing poetry, stories of abuse and sharing why the day is so important to them.
An activist from Eldorado Park, Romila Harris spoke about her fight against abuse and her support for her friend Mumtaz Haet who was left for dead two weeks ago in a veld in Eldorado Park, Haet is currently out of hospital and is recovering from her tragic experience.
- PHOTOS+VIDEOS: Women Shutdown the country in their red and black – [related content]
In an interview regarding the turnout of the march, one of the organisers Avela Faye said: “This has been amazing, I can’t explain it but we managed to shut down the country. This was not only happening here in Gauteng but it happened in every province and even Lesotho, Botswana and Namibia so we did it, we shut the country down.
“The number of women and gender non-conforming folks that showed up here is amazing, to say the least, to each and every person that came out today to face their struggles face to face and to say listen I am taking back my voice, I am taking back my strength and enough is enough. I would say that this march was impactful, it was not business as usual so they felt the pinch in some way.”
The president was not present to receive the memorandum and therefore, the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Naledi Pandor was sent to accept the memorandum. Organisers and marchers were not pleased and turned Pandor away because they wanted the president.
The president who was reported to be out of town rushed back and received the memorandum before 9 pm from organisers who waited for him.
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