Addressing The Nation

ADDRESSING THE NATION

BY FIONA WAKELIN

South Africa is a nation at war with itself

President Ramaphosa’s letter to the nation on 28 November focuses on his address to the second Presidential Summit on Gender-based Violence and Femicide where he stated that South Africa is at war with itself.

He refers to the tragic crime statistics for the last quarter, which were released just before the start of the annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children.

“Between July and September this year, 989 women were murdered, 1,277 were victims of attempted murder and more than 13,000 were victims of serious assault. In just these three months, more than 10,000 rape cases were opened with the South African Police Service (SAPS).

“Not even children, our most vulnerable citizens and most deserving of our care and protection, were spared. In the six months to September 2022, over 500 children were killed.

“We are in the grip of terrible crimes in which offenders are known to the victims. Women and children are being violated not only by strangers but by people who are known to them – by their fathers, boyfriends and husbands, by colleagues, teachers and even classmates,” - H.E. Ramaphosa.

In his letter, His Excellency states that we are, however, not powerless to stop these crimes, citing that there has been a growing mobilisation, with more than 17 000 trial-ready GBV cases having been processed by teams of the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority with the courts handing down heavier sentences to perpetrators.

However, whilst many of the perpetrators are not getting away with their crimes, first and foremost is the prevention of men and boys from becoming abusers in the first place. “To give meaning to 16 Days of Activism we now need to engage the men of South Africa in a dialogue about their responsibility towards women and toxic masculinity. All of society should be mobilised to organise these men’s dialogues.

“The government, nongovernmental organisations and the private sector should be encouraged to support such dialogues in every workplace, place of worship, school, college and university, and in every community. Every day various entities devote resources to public engagements, conferences and seminars on various pressing social, economic and political issues of the day. These are forums where this engagement should happen,” – President Ramaphosa. His Excellency emphasises that it is through these dialogues that we can examine our understanding of sexual consent and show how some assumptions and practices that many people consider ‘normal’ are harmful to women and children.

The belief that men are strong and women are weak must be challenged.

“As President, I stand ready to participate in men’s dialogues. I call on Ministers, Premiers, religious, political and community leaders, sports people, artists, celebrities and business people to do the same.

“The men of South Africa owe it to the women and children of this country to take up the struggle against gender-based violence.

“These men’s dialogues can be platforms for men to challenge each other to become better men, more responsible, more understanding and more caring,” – President Ramaphosa.