"The fight against GBV needs a collective approach" – Minister Dlamini-Zuma
By Hosea Ramphekwa
Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities of South Africa, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, has made a passionate plea for the nation to unite in the fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF).
Speaking at a policy dialogue on the prevention of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in Kempton Park on Tuesday the 26th of March 2024, Dlamini-Zuma called on all sectors of society, including government, institutions, schools, traditional establishments, families, and civil society movements, among others, to collectively tackle the scourge of one of the social ills plaguing South Africa.
“When we address GBV, we need to do it in a multifaceted approach, tackling the underlying causes while also providing support services for survivors and holding perpetrators to account.
Tackling gender-based violence demands a concerted effort from all sectors of society and it also requires political will, resources, and sustained commitment to effect meaningful change, with more resources directed at this particular intervention,” said Dlamini-Zuma.
“To combat this epidemic effectively, we must adopt a holistic approach that addresses both the immediate and underlying factors contributing to GBV, we must have a collective determination as a nation to fight this and to defeat it.
No government alone, no NGO alone, no community alone; all of us have to be involved and that holistic approach needs to be anchored in the GBVF Declaration and the National Strategic Plan.
This strategy envisages a South Africa free from GBV directed at women, children, and LGBTQIA+ individuals, it also provides a cohesive framework for a national, multi-sectoral response against GBV targeting underlying drivers, such as social norms, discrimination, patriarchy, cultural influences, and socio-economic disparities rooted in our apartheid past," Dlamini-Zuma furthermore alluded.
In 2018 and 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted the Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.
The first summit led to the establishment of the National Strategic Plan on GBVF comprising six pillars, namely Accountability, Coordination and Leadership; Prevention and Rebuilding Social Cohesion; Justice, Safety and Protection; Response, Care, Support, and Healing; Economic Power; and Research and Information Management.
Dlamini-Zuma told the forum that the government was committed to working with various stakeholders to halt the rise of GBVF in the country.
“In recent years, GBV has received unprecedented political focus and commitment, from the highest office in the land, the President and the Ministers remain steadfast in engaging with all sectors of society to combat this threat.
Of course, the President hosted the inaugural and the second presidential GBVF summits, signing the GBVF declaration, and Cabinets approving the National Strategy Plan.
It integrates primary, secondary, and tertiary violence prevention measures, making it more than just a document.
It represents a paradigm shift towards prevention and protection for all vulnerable individuals and as we embark on this 10-year strategy, achieving lasting change will require fundamental shifts in societal attitudes, behaviors, and structures.
It demands collaboration from stakeholders, civil society organizations, governments, departments, international partners, and everyone,” said the Member of Parliament.
Families and the education sector have an important role to play in uprooting the issue of GBV.
Dlamini-Zuma says families and schools have to educate children about social malady.
“Families are very important in the long-term fight against GBV, because adults bring back to society what society taught them as children and if as children, boys are taught to bully girls, and in the family, brothers are allowed to bully their sisters, and sisters are supposed to be subservient, then that will come back in adulthood.
That son, the brother, will then bully girlfriends and wives, so families are critical, and it's not big things that we must do.
We must start with small things and treat young girls and boys in the same way and stop treating boys as little princes and girls as Cinderellas.
We must treat them equally and we must not allow it when a boy hits the sister and the sister goes to the parents and the parents say, what did you do to him? That's wrong, you shouldn't hit the sister at all,” said the former chair of the African Union Commission.
“But also in schools, as they go to school, that education that comes from the family must also be reinforced," Dlamini-Zuma added.
The policy dialogue on the prevention of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) was a two-day event from March 26-27, 2024.
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Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma
President Cyril Ramaphosa
Africa
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