CDM Municipality
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Capricorn District Municipality’s journey towards the fight against Gender Based Violence (GBV) is forever in motion. CDM continued to celebrate women’s month in dialogue at Matlala Advice Centre, Prospect village at Ga-Matlala in Polokwane Municipality. The dialogue was organised through collaboration of various stakeholders Matlala Advice Centre, Polokwane Municipality and South African Police Service (SAPS). The municipality convened men and women at Prospect village on 17 August 2017 to talk and engage on Gender Based Violence and its impact on our lives.
“We need to continue to engage our communities in dialogues that will ensure the social challenges in the form of violence that we face on daily basis come to an end”, this was said by CDM Gender Coordinator Naledi Masipa during the dialogue. Taking the lead in outlining what GBV was, Masipa indicated that there were many forms of abuse that are Gender Based Violence. “The common form of abuse that is well known is the physical abuse because it can be seen but there are many that are invisible such as emotional abuse, sexual abuse and economical abuse”, said Masipa. The dialogue was joined by Polokwane Municipality Special Focus, SAPS Matlala, Public Protector, Social Workers and Traditional leaders in the area.
The dialogue had three commissions for men, women and youth that focused on discussing the strategic questions to identify challenges of GBV. The youth commission raised various issues such as calling of names towards LGBTI people victimisation, nepotism and favouritism in employment, drugs and substance abuse, rape, unemployment, etc. The young people were concerned with parents giving children too much money going to school and that money is later used to buy drugs and alcohol. The youth of Prospect said “nothing about us without us”.
The men commission appreciated the gathering and raised various concerns that relates to GBV. Their issues included bad and abusive treatment they endure at home in the hands of their wife’s, children and families especially when they become unemployed or retrenched. Women are seen as the cause of emotional abuse as they perpetuate disrespect amongst children making them look bad in the eyes of their children, women being given priority in job opportunities more that men and men being kicked out of their homes as they become old and experience health problems. Women commission raised issues relating to physical abuse, emotional abuse, child abuse, child labour and human trafficking. Women highlighted some of the causes of these challenges as unemployment, poverty, orphanage, self confidence, discrimination and bad financial situations.
Responding and elaboration on issues raised Social Worker Mokgohloa from Social Development, outlined the roles and responsibilities of the social workers on cases reported and how they are handled. “Depending on cases at hand, we work together with clinics, schools, police, community policing forum, community organisations and more. Constable Kola from SAPS Matlala was very vocal about the role SAPS play in protecting the community. SAPS work with all structures and other stakeholders to ensure safety of the community. He appealed to people to respect the law and report any case with no fear as SAPS was there to serve the community and GBV cases should never be left unreported. Sometimes people speak out when its too late and we need to speak out and stand firm, said Kola.
