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Religious leaders from the Western Cape Chapter of the South African Religious Forum held a peaceful demonstration in the Mitchell’s Plain Town Centre on Saturday 4 July. This was the start of their province-wide initiative. PHOTO: SAMANTHA LEE-JACOBS
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Religious forum on GBV SAMANTHA LEE-JACOBS SAMANTHA.LEE@PEOPLESPOST.CO.ZA @SAMANTHA_LEE121
T
he South African Religious Forum has initiated a province-wide awareness campaign to stem the scourge of genderbased violence (GBV). They kicked off their range of demonstrations at the Mitchell’s Plain Town Centre on Saturday 4 July, with Khayelitsha and Capricorn Mall earmarked for future initiatives. Bishop Paul Phillips, chair of the Western Cape chapter of the forum, says the religious sector has been quiet for too long. “The South African Religious Forum wants to condemn in the strongest terms the abuse of our children, women and seniors. This is a problem that affects our communities on grassroots level and government and
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the church as the religious sector has a responsibility. We can never be quiet about this. We are calling on government and the authorities to address the socio-economic issues and challenges that our communities face,” he says. Khoi-San leader, chief Peter Phillips agrees. He says they chose Mitchell’s Plain for the launch as it is a vibrant community also plagued by violence. “Too much is happening in our communities. We are here to bring awareness and support to victims in any way they need. There is so much violence happening in our houses. Where I am from in the Lavender Hill/ Steenberg area, people die daily. It is very violent and dangerous. We are against what is happening in our communities as religious leaders,” he says. He adds that victims of violence should speak out and approach those they can trust
in their communities for help. Dr Elouise Rossouw, provincial deputy chair, says as an interfaith forum, they encompass all religions. “For too long (religious leaders) have been quiet about the gender-based violence pandemic we have been fighting. Ever since Covid-19 has come in, gender-based violence has increased too. Was it because of the lockdown and now it has been exposed? We decided we will take a stand and let the world know, and South Africa know that as the SA Religious Forum, we say no to gender-based violence and when we talk about gender-based violence, we are not only talking about men abusing women and children because there are men being abused as well,” she says. For Rashaad Allen, a Muslim faith leader based in Parkwood, the justice system has a bigger role to play. “Gender-based violence is so severe in the
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Western Cape and especially on the Cape Flats. I spent 20 years in prison and I saw in prison that people come in and don’t get enough of a sentence for (the crime) they did. They do three programmes and then are released and this is how our communities have suffered over the years. Our problem is that the justice system is failing us,” he says. Paul says they want to do more and join with authorities to make a difference. “The contributing factors are substance abuse, dysfunctional families and the quietness of the religious sector on this very issue. We don’t just want to bring awareness, but we also want to roll out a programme where we go into communities and collaborate with the government and authorities to address this problem,” he says. They hope to host weekly demonstrations at various locations to continue raising awareness on GBV.
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