This article was written for GroundUp.com By Barbara Maregele
At least four women have been raped in less than three weeks in taxi-related incidents in and around Gugulethu, says Zoleka Mali, a counsellor at the Mosaic Centre for gender-based violence cases.
“The first woman was on her way to work. She got into an Avanza taxi. Two people were in the taxi, so she wasn’t worried. She said when those people got out, the driver drove to a quiet place and raped her,” she said. Mali said the suspect had been arrested.
She said the other woman had reported being raped by two men in a taxi just a few days ago. “They drove her from Gugulethu to Siqalo [near Philippi] and they both raped her. They put a tyre around her and just left her on the field,” she said. Police were still searching for the suspects.
Mali, who is assisting the two women at the Centre, was speaking at the launch of the #SafeRide campaign at the Gugulethu Square taxi rank on Thursday. The campaign is a partnership between gender rights group Sonke Gender Justice and the South African National Taxi Association Council (SANTACO).
The aim of the campaign is to address the high rate of sexual violence in the taxi industry. The initiative was piloted in Pretoria and the plan is to visit several taxi ranks across the country.
Sakhumzi Magengelele, a taxi owner attending the event, said he looked after female commuters passing through the Gugulethu taxi rank. “If I am here, they are safe. Just mention my name, everyone knows me. I got into the taxi industry more than 10 years ago and I think it’s safe here,” he said.
But standing just a few metres from him, Funeka Yabo from NY1, said she didn’t feel safe at the rank. “I go to work early so it’s usually quiet. Most of the drivers are very rude. Unless you get the same driver and get to know them, then it’s fine. The way they treat us women is shameful,” she says.
SANTACO president Philip Taaibosch said most of the people countrywide transported daily by taxis were women. He said the decline in the number of people using taxis was due to the lack of trust in the taxi industry.
“As taxi drivers and owners, we have a duty to ensure people feel safe in our care. Today, I carry the label of being a rapist because I’m a taxi owner. How does that make you feel that we are not trusted by the community?” he said, addressing a small group of taxi drivers standing at the Gugulethu rank.
“We are going to ensure that we spread the message against gender-based violence,” he said.
Edward Motala from Sonke said the campaign was targeted at men, urging them to get involved in addressing issues like violence against women and children.
“We are bring the campaign to where the men are. You’ll find them at the ranks and shebeens, that’s where we go to spread the message. The partnership with SANTACO just takes it a step further. A start is to remove all of the degrading art and things written on the taxis. Then, we can start to eradicate this issue,” he said.
Motala said the next event would be held at the Bellville Taxi Rank later this year.
The article below appeared on Quartz Africa on 02 December 2016 By Lynsey Chutel
It’s the end of the month in Diepsloot, a dangerous time for women. Many people in the impoverished township are paid their wages in the last week of the month, which researchers say leads to alcohol abuse and violence. In this densely populated yet underserviced neighborhood, police cannot reach many of the victims. That’s where Vimba comes in, an app spearheaded by journalists shocked at the violence and hopelessness they witnessed.
Meaning prevent, stop or halt in isiZulu, the Vimba app connects survivors with assisting organizations offering shelter, legal assistance and counselling for free. Dialling *134*403# directs women toward services for women who have been raped or abused, or anyone who wants to help them. It also texts back practical information on what to do when attacked, like advising women on getting HIV prevention within 72-hours of being raped.
The app was developed by the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, a division of one of South Africa’s most respected independent newspapers, the Mail and Guardian. The need for the app was highlighted by the center’s own reporting on the prevalence of child rape in Diepsloot, and showed just how hopeless the situation seemed for victims. The health journalism center teamed up with non-governmental organizations in the township north of Johannesburg to create an app that would extend their support networks.
The nearest state-funded care center is over 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) away, and families had no idea how to support survivors, especially when their perpetrators lived nearby. Bhekisisa’s in-depth report followed the discovery of the bodies of two toddler girls – raped, strangled and hidden in a toilet in a toilet cubicle in 2013.
South Africa has long struggled to with gender violence. The challenges are complex: social and economic dominance by men and sexual entitlement are spurred by unemployment and substance abuse, driving perpetrators to violence. Victims brave enough to report are further let down by poor policing and an ill-equipped justice system. Social stigma, however, means most will remain silent.
Diepsloot, an impoverished black township where the population ranges from the official count 138,000 to the unofficial estimate of 500,000, is tragically the ideal cross-section of the social, economic and structural challenges to addressing gender violence. The neighborhood is divided into 13 extensions, some of which have seen developments like state-housing projects, while others are still squalid.
A study conducted by the Sonke Gender Justice organization found that 56% of the 2,600 men they surveyed admitted to having raped or beaten woman in the last year. Worse, 60% of those men said they’d done it multiple times. Their victims, researchers said, live in constant fear that their trauma will be repeated and that their attackers will never be punished.
“That shows us what we’ve experienced to be true: domestic violence and socially violence is normalized in the community,” said Lindsay Henson of Lawyers Against Abuse, a center that offers much needed legal, social and psychological support for women from a humble container office. The app will help to connect women from all over Diepsloot with Lawyers Against Abuse.
“Most of the squatter camps are not accessible with a car so even if you called the police…they cannot enter,” said Brown Lekekela, the man behind the Green Door shelter, which the app also links to. Possibly the only shelter in the area, and run solely by Lekekela from his own home, Green Door offers a temporary haven and advice to women who want to get away from abusive partners.
“Most of the jobs found here are done by men so men are the main providers,” he tells Quartz. “They feel entitled to do anything they want to a woman.” In Diepsloot, as in many parts of South Africa, many victims are economically reliant on their abusive partners.
Vimba was specifically built to bypass this, explains the Bhekisisa project manager Laura Grant. Studies showed that most residents in Diepsloot had cellphones, but could not afford the data costs needed to access the internet.Developers used USSD protocol, unstructured supplementary service data, to create an app that doesn’t carry data costs, and all a victim has to do is dial the number. It goes further by reverse-charging calls made to the police and outreach organizations.
The app in turn collects data about gender violence in Diepsloot, tracking when and where complaints come from, at what time of the day and when during the year violence occurs. The back-end of the app is available to partner organizations like Green Door, Lawyers Against Abuse, Sonke Gender Justice, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group and Africa Tikkun, a youth outreach program. Bhekisisa plans to launch a website to share the data with anyone who wants to help in Diepsloot.
“Hopefully, the data we will collect will show people that more resources are needed,” said Grant.
The article below appeared on Times Live on 30 November 2016 By Graeme Hosken
The Vimba Helpline, a data-free cellphone app, allows the user to call for help from police and paramedics and provides the user’s location. It also provides information on what to do if someone has been raped.
Results from a study conducted by Wits University and Sonke Gender Justice NGO paint a grim picture of sexual violence in the township.
Of the 2,600 men aged between 18 and 40 surveyed for over a year, 56% revealed that they had committed acts of sexual or physical violence against women within that year.
The numbers are more than double the rates recorded in other national gender violence studies.
It also showed that the majority of men interviewed had experienced at least one type of physical or sexual childhood abuse.
The authors of the Sonke CHANGE Trial study say the level of violence in the township represented a “state of emergency” for women in Diepsloot.
“For instance, one-third of men believe that wives should not be able to refuse sex, more than half expect their partner to agree to sex when the man wants it, and a majority of men control the clothes a woman wears, the friends she sees, or where she goes,” the study says.
Sonke Gender Justice’s community manager, Dumisani Rebombo, said: “The app couldn’t have come at a better time for Diepsloot.”
He said the NGO would now look to the government for assistance to roll it out to other communities in the country.
This article was originally written for Times Live
By Ashleigh Furlong
The remand centre is for awaiting trial prisoners. These are people who have either not been convicted or sentenced. Some will be found not guilty of any crime.
Sonke Gender Justice‚ represented by Lawyers for Human Rights in the Western Cape High Court‚ believes that detainees are “routinely‚ and on a continuing basis‚ deprived of basic amenities to which they are entitled to by law”.
These amenities include exercise‚ nutrition‚ accommodation‚ ablution facilities and healthcare services that are guaranteed by law. In their court papers Sonke’s lawyers state that such a failure is inconsistent with the Constitution.
According to the law‚ detainees must be detained under “conditions of human dignity”. They must be provided with an “adequate diet to promote good health”‚ the opportunity to exercise for one hour daily‚ adequate health care services and with a separate bed with bedding that provides adequate warmth.
Current and former detainees are quoted as witnesses in Sonke Gender Justice’s heads of argument.
“When I arrived … I told them that I was HIV-positive. They never gave me my antiretroviral treatment‚ even though I had told them my status and asked them for medication. As a result‚ I defaulted on my HIV treatment … As a result of my detention at Pollsmoor [remand facility] my CD4 count dropped and my viral load has increased‚” states Mvelisi Sitokisi.
“I feel really claustrophobic all the time‚” says Rafiek Dreyer.
Dreyer also claims that there is not enough food for everyone. “The ‘gangboys’ sell the meat to the detainees that have the cash and want to purchase extra.”
“There is not enough toilet paper‚ cleaning materials or soap. So the place is disgusting and people get sick all the time‚” he says.
Athenkosi Myoli says that there are not enough beds in the cell for everyone‚ so detainees either share beds or sleep on the floor. “Detainees affiliated with gangs were given preferential treatment in this regard … I joined a gang to make things easier for myself‚” says Myoli.
Clayton Paulse adds that they are only allowed out of their cells for “about an hour per week”.
The government has not opposed the application‚ nor has it filed an affidavit that explains the situation‚ but the head of Pollsmoor’s remand facility is opposing the application. The acting head of the remand facility Cecil Jacobs asks in his answering affidavit for the application to be dismissed with costs.
The aim of the application is to force the government to develop “a comprehensive plan‚ including timeframes for its implementation” that will address these deficiencies as well as the deficiencies that were identified by Justice Edwin Cameron’s report on his visit to the facility.
If successful‚ the government would be compelled to provide a report to the court within a month detailing what it has done to correct the conditions‚ as well as to meet Cameron’s recommendations. In addition‚ they would have to state what further steps they will take to correct the “unlawful conditions”.
The court application also seeks to force the head of the remand facility to submit a report within one month on the findings of weekly cell inspections from December 2012 to date.
In Cameron’s report he detailed the conditions that he witnessed when he visited the remand facility in 2015 – conditions that echo the detainees’ claims.
During his visit‚ the facility was at just over 300% capacity with 4‚198 detainees. In March this year there were 4‚325 detainees. The remand facility is only meant to house 1‚619 detainees.
“The overcrowding is practically‚ undoubtedly and daily degrading and hazardous for every detainee subjected to it‚” states Cameron’s report.
The “minimum permissible cell area” for a detainee in a communal cell is 3.344m2.
According to Sonke Gender Justice‚ from the beginning of January 2015 to the end of April 2015‚ each detainee had about a third of this space.
Cameron’s report described the cells as “filthy and cramped” and the ablution facilities “deplorable”.
Following his report‚ the Department of Correctional services launched an “Action Plan” that Sonke Gender Justice described as‚ for the most part‚ “vague‚ ambiguous and lacking in specific timeframes”.
In his answering affidavit‚ Jacobs describes the situation of overcrowding as “uncontrollable” but despite this‚ he opposes the application.
Jacobs says that some of the detainees who are quoted as witnesses “readily admit their gang membership” and that none of them say that they have complained to a unit official.
Jacobs also points to the serious charges that most of the witnesses were arrested on. He adds that most of the statements from the witnesses “seem to have been obtained in a very one-sided and selective manner” that didn’t afford him or any officials the chance to respond.
He also takes issue with Sonke Gender Justice just citing the national government as a respondent saying that this is “vague and embarrassing in failing to identify‚ properly or at all‚ which sphere of government it is citing and from which sphere specifically it is claiming the relief”.
Additionally‚ Jacobs believes that Cameron’s report constitutes “inadmissible hearsay evidence” and should be struck from the record as none of the respondents have consented to its admission.
On a number of occasions Jacobs also says that the situation at Pollsmoor has changed since Cameron’s report and lays out these changes in a second “Action Plan”. However‚ Sonke Gender Justice’s heads of argument claim that‚ “The undeniable (and undenied) truth is that conditions at Pollsmoor RDF remain appalling and inhuman. The second Action Plan does not contradict this.”
The case will begin on 5 December at the Western Cape High Court.
* This article was originally published on GroundUp.
The article below appeared on Bhekisisa, 29 November 2016 By Nivashni Nair and Suthentira Govender
More than half, 56%, of men in Diepsloot in northern Johannesburg say they’ve either raped or beaten a woman in the past 12 months, according to results from the Sonke CHANGE trial, which were released on Monday. These figures are some of highest rates of violence against women ever recorded in South Africa: they are more than double those reported in national studies.
The Sonke CHANGE trial, a partnership between the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and gender activist organisation Sonke Gender Justice was conducted this year among 2 600 men in the township. The men were between the ages of 18 and 40 years with an average income of R1 500 a month. Only half had been employed in the three months before the study was conducted.
Of those men who had raped or beaten a woman, 60% said they had done so several times over the past year.
“These levels of violence represent a state of emergency for victims and survivors of this violence,” the researchers said in a study summary.
“They experience serious long-term physical and psychological harm. They experience ongoing fear of repeat victimisation, with little reason to believe that perpetrators will be apprehended or held accountable or that potential perpetrators will be deterred from using violence against them.”
South African Police Service reports show that of the 500 sexual assault cases reported in Diepsloot since 2013, there has been just one conviction, according to the researchers.
Abigail Hatcher, one of the lead researchers from Wits, told Bhekisisa: “If you think that 56% of men used violence against women, and because most of them did so more than once, it is likely that at least half of women in Diepsloot are experiencing it annually.
“But because most of the perpetrators have enacted violence towards a woman more than once, it is possible that they enact violence towards more than one woman at the same time. We estimate that we need care services and shelters for about 60% of the female population in Diepsloot. But except for a small organisation, Green Door, there are zero shelters.”
Green Door consists of three donated Wendy houses; the organisation does not receive any funding. It has only one part-time, volunteer counsellor.
According to South Africa’s 2011 census, 138 000 people live in Diepsloot, about 12 000 people per square kilometre. But residents and organisations in the township say this number is a gross underestimation: most estimate the population to be closer to half a million. If that is true, and if half the population consists of women, about 150 000 (60%) could be in need of care and shelter services.
The new Vimba Helpline app connects people who have been raped or abused in Diepsloot to help 24 hours a day and without data costs
On Wednesday, Bhekisisa will be launching a cellphone app in Diepsloot to make it easier for victims of gender-based violence to know where to find help.
Users dial *134*403# from their cellphone, which notifies a server to send a series of three menus asking the user where they are in Diepsloot and what sort of help they need. An SMS is then sent to the user with the phone numbers and addresses of the organisations in Diepsloot that help victims of gender-based violence, as well as the numbers of the police and ambulance services.
The Sonke CHANGE trial found that the most significant cause of men’s violence towards women in the township was “inequitable and harmful gender norms that grant men a sense of permission to use violence against women”.
For instance, one out of three men in the survey believe wives should not be able to refuse sex, more than half expect their partner to agree to sex when the man wants it and most believe they have the right to control the clothes a woman wears, the friends she sees or where she goes.
Controlling a partner doubled the odds that men used violence in the past year.
A troubled past, a troubled future
Childhood trauma was closely associated with men becoming abusers: 85% of the men who had raped or beaten a woman had been physically or sexually abused themselves as children. Men who had experienced child abuse were five times more likely to use violence against a woman.
“Children exposed to this violence in the home and community are far more likely to themselves become involved in violence later in life – boys as perpetrators and girls as victims – and are at increased risk of experiencing a host of other social problems, including psychological distress, alcohol abuse, poor school performance and increased involvement in crime, including interpersonal violence,” the researchers said.
Men with signs of depression were three times as likely to be violent towards women; 49.8% of men were found to have probable depression and 50.3% probable post-traumatic stress disorder.
Yet, the Sonke CHANGE trial researchers pointed out that “there are no public mental health services available in Diepsloot to address the mental health consequences of such widespread exposure to generalised violence”.
According to Brown Lekekela, who runs Green Door, the two local clinics don’t stock rape kits and there is no nearby government hospital that offers rape counselling services.
The nearest Thuthuzela Care Centre – a one-stop, government-run service offering rape care – is at Tembisa Hospital about 30km away. “This means rape victims are forced to travel long distances to access post-rape care or to attend court cases,” the researchers said.
The only other available counselling services are those offered by the police and non-governmental organisations. The Gauteng health department had not responded to questions about the lack of services at the time of publication.
Alcohol plays a huge part in exacerbating violence against women. Problem drinking – binge or frequent drinking that interferes with daily life – increased men’s abuse of women by 50%. Three-quarters of the men in the study reported problem drinking. That rate is about six and a half times higher than the national alcohol abuse rate of 11.4%, as reported by the South African Stress and Health survey published in the South African Medical Journal in 2009.
“Men arrive in Diepsloot with a history of violence and abuse in both their childhood and adulthood … the mental health burden on this community is therefore incredibly high,” Hatcher said. “Alcohol is an important self-medication mechanism, a way to ‘take away’ some of these burdens and cares that have really never been addressed by our society. But the problem with alcohol is that it leads to more problems, such as increased episodes of violence.”
The survey showed that men who had a matric qualification, were older than the average participant age of 27 and were employed, were less likely to be violent towards women. Having food security, which is when a household has access to the food needed for a healthy life for all its members, reduced the odds of violence by 40%.
Hatcher said: “When men feel active and productive, and when they’re able to have certainty in their lives about their daily needs, they’re likely to use violence less to prove their manhood.”
The article below appeared on Daily News on 18 November 2016By Mugini Jacob
The young women will now benefit from the three-year ambitious project, aimed at protecting their rights and rooting out the archaic cultural practices. More than 2,600 girls and young women stand to benefit from the project, thanks to the Foundation for Civil Society (FCS) for supporting the initiative through the Children’s Dignity Forum (CDF). CDF is a local nongovernmental organisation (NGO) leading campaigns aimed at ending FGM and child marriage in the country.
According to CDF Executive Director Mr Koshuma Mtengeti, under the project, some 75 members of the ward development committees (WDCs) will be trained in law, policy and how to take actions and report issues affecting children, at their work places.
“There will also be video shows on the bad effects of FGM and child marriage,” Mr Koshuma told the ‘Daily News’ shortly after the project was officially launched in Tarime on Wednesday.
He said CDF will also organise a dialogue of men and boys focusing on their roles in preventing FGM and child marriage. Implementation of the project will also involve the formation of a total of 18 clubs comprising out-of-school and schoolgirls.
“70 girls in each of the 18 clubs will be engaged. We will also train local leaders on how best they can play their part in protecting girls and women,” the CDF Executive Director said.
Moreover, 75 girls and young mothers will be equipped with entrepreneurship and livelihood skills, under the project. So far, the Child Dignity Forum has successfully implemented several projects which had greatly helped to save many girls from undergoing FGM and child marriage in the region. The new project is targeting three wards of Tarime District namely Turwa, Nyamisangura and Bomani.
It was officially launched by Tarime District Commissioner (DC) Mr Glorious Luoga on Wednesday this week. The DC thanked the NGO for working together with the government to curb FGM and child marriage acts in the area.
“The government cannot succeed in this war, without the support of organisations like CDF. You are doing a good job and we will continue supporting you,’’ Mr Luoga said during the event which was attended by key stakeholders from the three target wards.
The stakeholders included traditional leaders, clerics, ward executive officers and police from the children and gender desk unit. They welcomed the new project with the hope that it would strengthen the welfare of young women and girls, protecting them from being subjected to FGM and child marriage, stemming from outdated culture and traditions.
“The project has objectives and it would be helpful if it will be implemented as we have been told,’’ Rev Francis Makuri of Tarime Mennonite Church said. Main objective of the project is to advance girls’ rights, child marriage, FGM and empowering child mothers in the targeted wards according to the Executive Director Mr Koshuma Mtengeti.
Successful implementation of the project, he said is expected to increase acceptance and engagement of communities on girls’ rights and prevention of child marriage and FGM. Secondly, the project is expected to improve girls’ financial independence and livelihood opportunities. Mr Mtengeti said the project would also enhance girl’s knowledge and skills to enable them make informed decisions about sexual and reproductive health.
The project is further anticipated to strengthen local level systems to protect women and girls from harmful practices especially FGM and child marriage, he said. Already, a baseline survey is underway in all villages of the three wards to ensure that implementation of the project attained the intended goals, according to Mr Koshuma.
Ms Mwanvita Musa, Acting Ward Officer from Turwa Ward said the project will make an impact on curbing FGM and child marriage acts. The project has started at the time when next FGM season is about to take place in Tarime and other parts of Mara region.
The Tarime DC Mr Luoga said security officials are on high alert to prevent FGM acts after learning that an FGM time table has been provided in some parts of the district. “The FGM time table in Tarime is a shameful move. We need to find out why this practice is not ending and must seek a lasting solution,” the DC pointed out.
Mr Luoga said it ishigh time Tarime residents stopped the outdated harmful culture and direct their efforts and resources on development issues like investing heavily in education sector.
“If we jail at least 10 female circumcisers (ngariba) this problem will end in Tarime,” Mr Luoga said insisting the importance of public cooperation with the police force.
After getting the information about this year’s FGM schedule, the DC said an emergency meeting was held early this week to lay out measures that will help thwart the plan.
“The meeting involved our officials and traditional leaders and I have instructed Officer Commanding District (OCD) to be on high alert to ensure that we prevent FGM acts before they happen,” he said.
There are reports that several hundreds of girls are at risk of undergoing the harmful cut, thanks to Tarime leaders and CDF for the timely actions. Speaking at the same occasion, a number of traditional leaders from Kurya tribe claimed that these days girls are not subjected to painful cut as it was the case in the past.
“Now days we only paint flour on the girls as symbol of maintaining the culture for women to dance and provide gifts to the girls.
They never experience pains as it was the case in the past,” Mzee Marwa Nyaiho, one of the Kurya traditional leaders said.
Kurya tribe has about 13 clans all and majority of them are still seeing FGM as an important culture. FGM is said to be the source of child marriage and massive drop-outs involving school girls in the region.
The traditional leaders said they back on-going campaigns aimed at making FGM a thing of the past in the area.
This article was written for IOL By Kamini Padayachee
While new proposed legislation would offer 10 days of parental leave and new leave provisions for parents who adopt or have children through surrogates, gender activists argue that all parents should have the same parental leave benefits.
The Labour Law Amendment Bill is currently with Parliament’s portfolio committee on labour, which is considering submissions made last month by Sonke Gender Justice jointly with the Mosaic Training, Service and Healing Centre for Women, and by Cosatu.
The bill was drafted by the African Christian Democratic Party in line with its policy on family values, as the party argued that provision should be made in the law for “paternity leave”.
Currently fathers may take three days of family responsibility leave when their children are born, but some companies have internal policies that see them offering more.
The bill proposes that any parent who is not entitled to maternity leave can apply for 10 days’ parental leave after a child is born or when an adoption order is granted. This leave would be paid for from the Unemployment Insurance Fund.
It also provides for an adoptive parent who adopts a child younger than 2, or a parent who has a child through a surrogate, to be entitled to 10 weeks’ leave.
Scenarios
In both scenarios, the second parent would be entitled to 10 days of parental leave.
There is currently no provision made for adoptive parents or those who have children through surrogacy.
Last year a Durban Labour Court judge ruled that a gay father, who was the primary caregiver to a baby born through surrogacy, should be entitled to the same maternity leave as a woman.
Wessel van den Berg, of Sonke Gender Justice, said the organisation, together with Mosaic, had proposed that there should be no distinction between the leave benefits that biological parents and other parents received.
He said they had also proposed that women be entitled to six months’ maternity leave rather than the current four months, as this was in line with the World Health Organisation recommendation that children be breast-fed for six months after birth.
Van den Berg said adoptive and surrogate parents should also be entitled to six months’ maternity leave, and 10 days of leave for the secondary caregiver.
He questioned the limit on leave for adoptive parents based on the age of the adopted child.
“The limit of leave for adoptive parents is not correct because even if the child is 8 or 9, the adoptive parents still need an opportunity to bond with the child.”
Van den Berg said based on the submissions, the portfolio committee would decide whether to amend the bill and then send it on to the National Council of Provinces.
This article was written for The Citizen By Simnikiwe Hlatshaneni
Gender activists have rallied behind the family of Nosipho Mlandleleni, the 24-year-old slain girlfriend of former ANC Youth League official Patrick Wisani, as his murder trial began yesterday.
Wisani, who appeared briefly in the Randurg Magistrate’s Court, pleaded not guilty to all three charges related to the murder of his girlfriend.
He stands accused of having beaten Mlandleleni to death with a sjambok at their Yeoville home in Johannesburg last year.
After being granted R3 000 bail, Wisani then allegedly attacked his girlfriend’s twin sister and her friend, who were both key witnesses in the case, in May this year.
He was on the run for 22 days before he handed himself over to police and has been in custody since June.
The case has been marred with delays since its beginning, according to Sonke Gender Justice co-ordinator Nonhlanhla Skosana.
“It has been a very challenging time because the whole process has been dragging. They had to change the investigating officer, then we were not happy with the judge and the prosecutor asked the judge to recuse himself from the case. Now we have a judge who we feel is good and on top of things so we hope that justice will be done,” said Skosana.
The Yeoville Bellevue NO to GBV Coalition, which has been monitoring the case, said that it was encouraged by the state’s decision to appoint a new judge.
“We are particularly encouraged by Judge Mohamed Ismail’s statement in court this week that he has been specifically sent by the Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court, the honourable Dunstan Mlambo, to preside over this case and to see that it is concluded quickly and properly,” it said in a statement.
Maurice Smithers, a co-ordinator for the NO to GBV Coalition, lamented the lack of support from the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) in the case.
This was especially concerning, he said, because both Wisani and Mlandleleni were ANC members.
“It’s extraordinary to us they are not coming out to support this case, particularly because they are supposed to protect the interests of women like they did when they supported Reeva Steenkamp with big cameras and lots of publicity,” said Smithers.
The ANCWL was not available for comment at the time of going to press.
The article below appeared on Health-e News, 18 August 2016 By Amy Green
Nonhlanhla Skosana taps on the closed window of the taxi inching past her at the crowded Bree Taxi Rank in Johannesburg. The driver rolls down his window and greets Skosana while she piles pamphlets and condoms into his hands. The conversation ends abruptly by hooting from the taxi behind them.
Skosana waves apologetically as she walks to another taxi parked a few meters away – she and her colleagues want to speak to as many taxi drivers as they can today.
Their aim is to get men involved in preventing the every-day incidents of harassment and gender-based violence in these spaces.
Nonhlanhla Skosana, from Sonke Gender Justice, speaks to a taxi driver about the Safe Ride campaign. Credit: Amy Green
“We cannot prevent the harassment of women without engaging men. It is critical for taxi drivers to be partners and hold each other accountable,” says Skosana, who works for Sonke.
Over the next year, supported by funding from the Danish embassy, the Safe Ride campaign will host events in all nine provinces with taxi drivers, queue marshals and commuters.
They are also planning three-day-long intensive training sessions for drivers and their assistants on gender-based violence, how to report such incidents and where survivors can go to for help.
Sonke’s Edward Motale, a former taxi driver and owner, says gender-based violence is common in taxis and taxi ranks but few people are willing to speak out.
“Women are abused in taxis – there are so many cases. But to iron out these problems we need to come together.”
Breaking the silence
After a video of a taxi driver harassing a woman started doing the rounds on social media in November last year, the Department of Women issued a statement urging every member of society to act: “Those in the taxi which include three women and two men kept silent as the women was being embarrassed and assaulted… It takes all of us to intervene and correct the violent treatment by men towards women. The eradication of this plague is only possible if all of us do something.”
Motale believes much of the tension arises from an acrimonious relationship commuters have with drivers: “It is not easy to come out in public and say I’m a taxi driver because they have been labelled so badly. We want to close the gap – we only need communication.”
He says drivers themselves have the power to influence other drivers in this male-dominated industry.
Reducing gender-based violence
“If we reach every taxi driver with this message, I believe we will be able to change society.” – Phillip Thaaibosch, SANTACO.
Trine Rask Thygesen, the Ambassador of Denmark to South Africa, says that gender-based violence is a very important global issue and, considering that the South African Police Service reported half a million rapes last year alone, campaigns like this are a necessity.
“This is not going to change South Africa overnight. It is a process. But we’ve seen the dedication of Sonke and SANTACO – there is huge potential in this campaign,” she says.
According to Phillip Taaibosch, SANTACO’s president, there are roughly 680 000 taxi drivers affiliated to his organisation serving more than 15 million commuters across the country every day.
“I was born from a woman and as a husband to a woman, my responsibility is to ensure women are protected. That is the message we want to send to drivers: to understand the importance of respecting women. If we reach every taxi driver with this message, I believe we will be able to change society.” – Health-e News
The article below appeared on IOL, 16 August 2016 By Gabi Falanga
A national campaign which aims to ensure the safety of the most vulnerable of taxi commuters, namely women and children, launches in Johanesburg on Wednesday.
The Safe Ride campaign, initiated by the non-profit organisation Sonke Gender Justice in partnership with the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco), will kick off at the Bree Street taxi rank.
Image source: IOL
The shocking assaults of women and children by members of the taxi industry frequently make headlines, with women often being harassed for wearing miniskirts or raped by drivers of taxis they had been passengers in.
Sonke’s community education and mobilisation unit acting manager, Nonhlanhla Skosana, said the programme aimed to “reduce the level of harassment against women and children and to educate the taxi drivers and queue marshals on preventing gender-based violence”.
“We also want to provide information for women commuters on where they can get help when they experience harassment or sexual abuse.”
The ongoing project would provide training to members of the taxi industry in the form of workshops and dialogues.
Santaco president Phillip Taaibosch said the taxi industry had a bad reputation and he was excited about how the campaign would reform it.
“It’s a male-dominated industry and we believe the campaign is going to contribute immensely to the advocacy for the respect of women and children and for other citizens of the country. It will also contribute to the commuter-taxi driver relationship. We believe it’s one way of installing dignity and respect.”
He said the response by those in the industry had been positive when he embarked on a roadshow to all the provinces.
Taxi drivers were responsible for transporting 15.5 million people on a daily basis and Santaco had close to 680 000 members.
The Danish embassy has provided the funding to get the campaign off the ground, with that country’s ambassador to South Africa, Trine Rask Thygesen, saying gender equality was a priority for the Danish government.
“It’s a priority for us to support other countries. South Africa has a lot of legislation that protects the rights of women and children, but there’s still a huge gap in implementation,” she said.
Thygesen said the campaign was a step in the right direction to breaking the silence around gender-based violence and society’s passive participation in it. Some of the most shocking stories stemming from the industry included that of taxi driver Vuledzani Ramulifho who, in 2013, was found guilty on 43 counts relating to the assault, robbery and rape of women.
Other horrific acts were committed by Booi Makhubela, 50, and his son Rodgers, 26, of Alexandra. The father and son duo were sentenced in 2011 to a collective 26 life terms for raping, assaulting and robbing 10 women in their taxi.
Last year, Lawrence Bila Mabunda was convicted of 21 rapes, 13 robbery charges and an attempted murder.
He met most of the women he raped at taxi ranks in Joburg, convincing them they were at the wrong taxi ranks and offering to accompany them to ranks where they could catch their taxis.
He would take them to a bushy area in Benrose and rape them before robbing them.
In 2011, around 50 taxi drivers harassed two teenage girls, taunting them about the length of their skirts, groping them and taking photos with their phones. Criminal charges were laid, but no arrests were made.
A similar incident had occurred at the Noord taxi rank in 2008, with taxi drivers stripping a young woman for wearing a miniskirt.
In this blog Men seeing themselves as full partners in care work, Bayano Valy, a proudly avowed feminist and Advocacy, Research and Network Programme Manager for Rede HOPEM, a member of the MenEngage Mozambique network, writes about the promise and challenge of getting men involved in care and household work using observational evidence from HOPEM’s ‘Men in the Kitchen’ programme, which seeks to challenge power relations by getting men to question hegemonic masculinities using a gender transformative approach.
Men seeing themselves as full partners in care work
by Bayano Valy
Observational evidence in Mozambique shows that there are men who perform care and household work, believing they are helping their partners. This is grounded in evidence from pre and post-evaluation courses of the programme “Men in the Kitchen.”
“Men in the Kitchen” is a programme designed and implemented by Rede HOPEM (Men for Change), which seeks to challenge power relations by getting men to question hegemonic masculinities using a gender transformative approach. The course has trained more than 200 men since its inception in 2014. Alongside “Men in the Kitchen”, the men are trained in further care work such as child care and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The men who participate in the courses say they are more than interested in gender-progressive activities within the household, but are not exactly comfortable expressing such behaviour publicly due to societal norms.
Incidentally, when the men come for the “Men in the Kitchen” programme, they believe they are doing so in order to “help” their partners. It is after going through the theoretical component of the programmes that they realise that as men doing care and household work, they are not helping but sharing the house care workload.
This notion is dispelled in the courses. Rather, they should in fact increase their workload within the household in order to promote gender equality. The courses also encourage them to develop their abilities in the household and make choices to continue doing the work without regard to societal pressure, stereotypes and prejudices, as well as lead them to realise that it is their responsibility to work in the household as full partners.
Perhaps the most appealing feature of male involvement in gender equality promotion is that men themselves stand to gain much from a gender-equal society. However, this is still a tough sell for most men brought up in a society in which patriarchy still reigns supreme – not only is swimming against the patriarchal tide socially costly but it also requires a support network which is still incipient.
Paradoxically, the people who should really be happier from the toils of their men-folk in care and household work seem to be ambivalent. When consulted months after taking part in the courses, a larger group of men said that their partners saw their newfound enthusiasm for engaging in care work as an invasion of their private space. A smaller group reported that their womenfolk were happy to see the transformation.
But worryingly, a third group said that their partners were questioning their manhood, and rather than welcoming the change, they started displaying hegemonic masculinity traits – maybe this is because the only reference women have of “leadership” are men who are constrained by the ossified edifice of patriarchy.
What the evaluations suggest is that there is a need for the implementation of gender synchronised approaches in order to ensure that their partners encourage them to share the workload rather than question their manhood or even belittle them.
It is crucial to put in place strategies for the creation of an enabling environment for men who seek to break away from the yoke of patriarchy. Such spaces could simply be club houses where men could go and mingle with other like-minded men, as well as share their experiences.
That is likely to ensure that not only more and more men perform care and household work, but do so in the knowledge that their work is appreciated by their partners and society, and that they are not helpers but partners who want to achieve gender equality in all aspects of the concept.
The article below appeared on Cape Talk, 11 August 2016 By Omogolo Taunyane
A campaign between Sonke Gender Justice and the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) aims to make taxis and taxi ranks safer for women.
The initiative, called Safe Ride, seeks to raise awareness about sexual harassment and violence among men and women.
In 2012, a video circulated of two young women being taunted by taxi drivers at Noord Taxi Rank in Johannesburg CBD because of the length of their skirts.
702/Cape Talk’s Eusebius McKaiser (standing in for Redi Tlhabi) spoke to Nonhlanhla Skosana from Sonke Gender Justice about the campaign.
The campaign will be launched at Bree Taxi Rank on 17th August, 2016.
The article below appeared on Al Jazeera, 10 August 2016 By Hannah McNeish
The 300 or so pictures of “the ideal man” drawn by boys joining a male-mentoring charity in Swaziland are almost always the same. They depict a solitary and solemn figure who appears domineering – on his land, drinking and wearing traditional dress.
“I thought a man was somebody who’s got a family, somebody who’s got authority, power, that kind of thing,” says Lungelo Fakudze, one of the roughly 100,000 orphans in Swaziland, which is home to 1.3 million people.
The scourge of HIV/Aids during the 1990s and 2000s means that half of the population of Swaziland are children and almost a third of adults have HIV. But a strong notion of male pride and a sense of duty to provide for others, means many men conceal their HIV status and continue to work even when unwell.
The men also stay away from health clinics, which tend to be female-centred, where they could get a diagnosis and treatment. As a result, while more women contract HIV, more men die as a result of it.
“They believe that they should be big and strong and solitary and authoritative. Reasons you’re less likely to go to the clinic and get a check-up and seek out medical services until it’s too late,” says Tom Churchyard, the director of the charity Kwakha Indvodza (KI), which means Building a Man.
As more men die, the shortfall in male role models grows. KI is trying to fill that void by taking boys, mostly orphaned by Aids, and deconstructing their dangerous notions of what it means to be a man.
“I’ve seen so many people out there, they take this thing of being a man – using it the wrong way – taking it and abusing other people,” says Fakudze, who started coming to KI’s Mahlanya youth centre three years ago when he was 15.
High rates of unemployment, about 40 percent, in Swaziland also present a challenge to the image of the ideal Swazi male. This has pushed some men over the border to work in South Africa’s mines and others towards alcoholism or other forms of abuse.
“You find that you’re unable to protect, you’re unable to provide, so that’s maybe where the violence comes in, because you’re trying to prove something,” says Emmanuel Mkhwanazi, a KI counsellor.
One in three girls surveyed by UNICEF reported some form of sexual violence during childhood.
‘Where are the men?’
As 300,000 Swazis currently face hunger as a result of Swaziland’s worst drought in 18 years, Mswati’s wives and a 100-strong entourage enjoyed a nearly $1m summer holiday to Orlando, Florida.
Mswati is often accused of reinforcing a patriarchy that oppresses women and keeps them chasing after “blessers” – older men who exchange gifts, school fees or other forms of payment for sex. The fact that the highest rates of HIV are among young women – more than one in 10 females aged 15-24 are living with HIV – and men some 10 years their senior suggests this “blesser” culture may be exacerbating the spread of the virus.
HIV is often diagnosed in women during pregnancy, with those who test positive being put on antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, which drastically reduce the chance of transmission to their babies, as well as future partners, and prolong their lives.
But diagnosing men, who usually avoid clinics, remains a challenge.
“We always sit and wonder, where are the men?” says Dr Nduduzo Dube. Two-thirds of the patients he treats at the Aids Healthcare Foundation clinic in Manzini city are women.
“Swaziland is a very traditional, masculine-based society so they think they should support a whole family,” says Yen-Hao Chu, who is part of a Chinese medical mission working in Swaziland.
Men earning around $15 a month “won’t want to face any other problem other than work” or become “permanently controlled” by clinics which cut into precious working hours, Chu says.
The HIV male blame game
The medical response to HIV was “feminised” to tackle soaring female prevalence, Dube explains, but he thinks this approach now needs to evolve.
“We’ve tried to engage into programmes where we try and encourage men to test, which basically involves going to their workplaces or … places where they gather as a group.”
Clinics in “kombis”, small minibuses that travel through the streets, serve the most hidden groups, such as homosexual men.
Researcher Bekhie Sithole believes that men’s withdrawal from healthcare is a result of the “moralising” of HIV and the way that men have been painted as the perpetrators and women as their victims.
“Men have developed their own attitude to that, saying, ‘We are the bad guys, so we will do things the way we like’,” he says.
Dube explains that in such a patriarchal society, “where men are put up there”, they are not inclined to accept being “blamed for anything”.
The lure of witch-doctors
Most men ignore local clinics that are aimed at, staffed by and used by women, and opt instead to visit a local inyanga, or witch-doctor.
They offer queue-free, man-to-man private consultations and, sometimes, the promise of what the patient wants to hear – either that they don’t have HIV or that it can be “cured”.
“Part of the appeal of witch-doctors is that they are offering cures, not treatment that require you to come back for check-ups,” says Chu.
Newspaper adverts from witch-doctors promise to “bring back lost lovers or separate them within a day”, resolve “problems at work even if they want to fire you”, attract “white or rich people” and allow “control of your husband or wife using a remote” as if by magic.
But the “medicines” prescribed can be brutal.
“They will look for the most awkward thing for you to do, just like sometimes they will tell you have to kill your brother … so if you don’t do it they can say, ‘well you can’t get better because you didn’t do it’,” says Dube.
One HIV “cure” is to have sex with a virgin.
“People don’t say it openly now because they know it’s wrong, but it’s still prescribed by traditional healers and they still do it,” said a foreign doctor who could not speak on the record.
Great strides have been taken to bring medics and witch-doctors together to carve out roles – healers will treat HIV-related ailments but recognise the virus and refer patients for testing and treatment.
“We see that some of them have seen the benefits of ARVs so in their concoctions they do try and put ARVs, so they can keep their clients, because there is monetary benefit in that,” says Dube.
Drugs for life
From January 2017, Swaziland will start putting anyone who tests positive – regardless of their viral load – on ARVs for life, to prevent the virus from being spread early on.
Trials by medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) found that this approach appeals to Swazi men as it means that they will stay stronger for longer.
“I think this is also about keeping the balance of being a man in your community. You can live your own life, you can make your own decisions, without the need of being dependent on somebody else,” says Bernhard Kerschberger, from MSF Swaziland.
Getting children to take pills for life is more difficult. Boys fear being seen taking daily ARVs because “they may be stigmatised,” says Fakudze.
Circumcision and the warrior complex
Campaigns calling for circumcision, which may reduce the risk of heterosexually acquired infection in men by approximately 60 percent, mostly fall on deaf ears as boys and men cite concerns over religion, virility and their warrior status.
A 19th century Swazi king banned circumcision after blaming his failure to find enough warriors to go to battle on the number of men recovering from the operation.
Most of the boys that pass through Kwakha Indvodza get circumcised, either after learning about it at holiday camps or on accompanied clinic visits.
With more openness about HIV – even if school sex education still preaches abstinence and fidelity – and better treatment models, the number of Swaziland’s lost boys should decline.
Fakudze described sleepwalking through life alone before he found “a family” in the KI brotherhood.
“Now I have goals, my own goals, I’ve got a vision of my life. I’ve got a future, somewhere,” he says.
That doesn’t involve getting HIV, making his children suffer as he did, or being the man he once drew.
“I want to be the man who is caring, who is responsible, who cares for the family, the people living with him, the environment and even care about my health too. A man who will have dignity, honour and respect, just like that.”
The article below appeared in The Citizen, 9 August 2016
The Sonke Gender Justice sent a reminder on Twitter to EFF leader Julius Malema about his controversial remarks in relation to the decade-old rape case between President Jacob Zuma and a woman known to the public as Khwezi.
Malema, at the time the president of the ANC Youth League, when he was still “prepared to kill for Zuma”, claimed that in his opinion a woman who had not enjoyed a night of sex normally wakes up and leaves early in the morning.
He said the HIV-positive Khwezi had a “nice time” and “enjoyed it” with the president.
“When a woman didn’t enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money,” said Malema while addressing 150 Cape Peninsula University of Technology students in 2009.
“In the morning, that lady requested breakfast and taxi money,” Malema added to a cheering audience.
Malema has, however, changed his stance on almost all his earlier views on Zuma, and is today his most outspoken and regular critic.
The Sonke Gender Justice Network filed a complaint at the Equality Court in Johannesburg against Malema for his remarks in defence of Zuma. Sonke’s case alleged hate speech, unfair discrimination and harassment of women, and was only the second high-profile gender equality case to be taken to the Equality Courts since inception in 2003.
Zuma was acquitted of the rape charge against Khwezi in 2006. He infamously told the court that he had unprotected sex with the woman, then took a shower afterwards, hence earning the oft-used moniker “shower head”.
However, the women who staged a silent protest against Zuma at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) results centre on Saturday believed that an acquittal did not necessarily mean Zuma was innocent – only that evidence against him had proved insufficient. The protesting women said they believed Khwezi and stood with her still. This was also seconded by national chairperson of the EFF Dali Mpofu, who argued that “to be acquitted means the court found you not guilty. This does not mean innocent.”
When challenged by a Twitter user over whether the women should not rather have been protesting against Malema for his old comments, Mpofu said it was a free country and people could do what they wanted.
He added that it was patronising to say that the four women were “sent by Malema”, as some have alleged, saying women can think for themselves. “Maybe they should… It’s a free country… It’s false and patronising to assume they listened to anybody. Women can think!” said Mpofu.
The advocate also said that, had the women protested against Malema, ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini would have acted differently. “If the four women protesters had displayed “Down with Malema”/“To Hell with EFF”… Imagine the level of praise by Bathabile, Nomvula & Ginger!”
Dlamini had said she was appalled by the protest and demanded an apology from IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini.
The four women were forcefully marched of of the IEC results centre after staging the silent protest.
Khwezi later said through a spokesperson that she had truly appreciated the silent protest.
The article below appeared in The Star Women’s Day Special Edition, 09 August 2016 By Nonhlanhla Skosana
The way Nonhlanhla Skosana sees it, men and boys need to hold each other accountable. That’s also why she, as a woman, has taken it upon herself to educate them on gender-based violence, because her knowledge is visceral; theirs is received.
“Sonke for me is a platform where we can talk to men about these issues and also to say to those who aren’t perpetrators that they can’t turn a blind eye; their silence means they are taking part in violence against women.”
Skosana, a community, education and mobilisation unit manager at Sonke Gender Justice, focuses her efforts on men talking about the issues of gender-based violence, equality and prevention. “Being an activist means you are the voice for the voiceless. You can’t be an activist just when things are fine. You have to be on the streets, fighting the battles for those in need.”
One of the projects she’s working on is Amathuthuzela – a one stop service space for rape survivors.
Sonke is working with 23 community radio stations to promote these centres through a radio drama called Thuthuzeleka.
“It’s important to talk to men about how they can support victims of sexual violence,” she says.
A team comprising men in the communities runs workshops.
They also attend municipal ward meetings and raise the gender based violence issues that are often brushed under the carpet.
“These men,” says Skosana, “become ambassadors in their communities.”
Her passion to mobilise men stems from her wanting to see them become equal partners in the fight against sexual violence: “You don’t see men picketing outside court or showing support when it is necessary. It also affects men, young men who see their mothers being abused or sisters being raped. They are affected.”
One case to which Skosana has been dedicating her time is the ongoing one against ex-ANCYL leader Patrick Wisani, who allegedly sjambokked his girlfriend to death. The case is being monitored by Sonke Gender Justice and a fellow organisation in Yeoville.
Out of this, she also has a concern that many young men struggle to identify with other men who can be their role models: “We need to change that, those stereotypes… That being a provider means to be strong and violent in order to prove your manhood.”
Skosana believes that if men can understand these issues, the effect will roll over to women, who will then be able to be in a space where they can negotiate for condoms, have open conversations with their partners about how many children they want to have and other “taboo” topics.
She cites a case in which a woman who had been raped by her uncle years later caught her son raping her niece. She reported him and he was eventually jailed. Because of this, the woman was turned into an outcast by her family and community.
But, says Skosana, “those are the hero women, the women who are on the ground, making decisions, building their communities
and not paying lip service”.
The activist lives by these words of Lilian Ngoyi: “Let us be brave. We have heard of men shaking in their trousers, but whoever heard of a woman shaking in her skirt?”
She says: “We have no option, we have to stand, we have to be brave.”
This article was originally written for Pretoria News
Who says women can’t do it?
Doreen Kosi
From humble beginnings working as a secretary to taking a seat as a chief director in the highest office in the land (the Presidency) to occupying an executive position at Adcock Ingram Healthcare, Doreen Kosi has worked her way up the corporate ladder. Kosi grew up in Annshaw location in Middledrift, Eastern Cape, as the eldest of three children. She was left in the care of her aunt Elbrona (Somnci) Tyali while her single mother Mavis (Nomthunzi) Tyali sought employment in Port Elizabeth.
Kosi says this is the woman who taught her to respect education, as it is a key to life. Elbrona also taught her the importance of independence and respecting her body as a “temple”.
After completing her studies, she got her first job as a secretary to a factory’s managing director in Dimbaza. Kosi then moved to the University of Fort Hare as a library assistant, and a year later got promoted to become secretary to the dean of the faculty of science, winning the Eastern Cape Secretary of the Year award in 1992. She later relocated to Gauteng in search of better opportunities. Kosi chuckles as she remembers attending graduation ceremonies at the university and vowed that one day she would be up there receiving her degree.
In 1996, Kosi found herself in a new province, new city, new job, a new title, on her own with no family support – but she persevered because she had a dream.
She began as an assistant director to the then national director-general, Professor Chabani Manganyi. A psychologist by profession, he brought out the best in her. Under his teachings, she became the best she could be and landed the post of private secretary to the then education minister, Professor Sibusiso Bengu, who taught her humility and propelled Kosi’s career forward.
She became a private secretary to then deputy president Jacob Zuma (from whom she learnt the value of ubuntu) in 1999. That position marked the beginning of her 14-year journey in the Presidency. Kosi is proud that in her time at the Presidency, she served four deputy presidents with professionalism and dedication. The Presidency also helped sharpen her inter-personal, management and leadership skills.
Kosi took her personal development seriously, because she understood that to stay relevant and effective, she needed to sharpen her intellectual capacity and diversify her skills. So she acquired qualifications in public relations, community relations, labour relations and a master of management degree in public and development management through the Witwatersrand University Graduate School of Governance in 2009.
She participated in the General Electric CEOs Programme at Crouton University in the US in 2009 and is currently doing a course on women in leadership through Wits Business School.
The turning point for Kosi was when she realised one should not only to be effective at work, but also be there for one’s children. She remembers how her own mother, Nomthunzi, sacrificed her future for her (Kosi) That’s when she resigned from the public service for a top job at Adcock IngramKosi believes that in life, “Make choices, commit to them; live with the consequences”.
Dr Anna Mokgokong
Every day mothers, grandmothers and sisters toil the soil, working for hours, days, years – often non-stop – pouring their hearts and sweat into what they feel needs to be done. I salute them.
This year Community Investment Holdings (CIH), a company of which I am the founding chairperson, celebrated its 20th anniversary.
From our start in 1995, we have carved a diversified industrial holding group out of nothing. Our marching song was “Forward ever, backward never.”
What we achieved in these 20 years is nothing short of a miracle. But more importantly, it illustrates that where there is a will and determination there will be progress.
Through my work at CIH, I believe that apart from education, what holds back women’s entry into the management league is attitude. Women still set their sights too low.
Some women lack confidence and do not take risks, preferring not to challenge situations they could easily master, for fear of failure or criticism. Most do not see themselves as winning, but helping others to win.
That is why CIH has always been about building up women to be more productive, and able to raise the next generation and their communities. I salute Adcock Ingram for the role it played in the health sector. It understands that as we get empowered, sitting on the throne of economic influence and strength, we need to touch the lives of many. As women we want a fair slice of the main economy and to be accorded respect in our communities.
As we mark the 60th anniversary of the historic 1956 Women’s March on the Union Buildings against pass laws, let us salute those heroines for their pioneering role. Now we are beacons of light for gender equality and women’s empowerment Let us teach ourselves to never feel inferior, never compromise our abilities, and to make resilience our best friend.
Be strong-willed amid challenges, but remain authentic and humble. Be resilient and tenacious, diligent and work with integrity.
Dr Anna Mokgokong is Afrocentric Group chairwoman.
Lucy Peter
Lucy Peter: “You don’t have to have a near death experience to change your attitude… live life and appreciate those who matter I Achieve your dreams I It starts with me #mrscwsa2016.
I was born and raised in the South Coast town of Sezela, KZN. I lost my dad at the age of 14. I was the oldest of four siblings and my mother had no formal qualification. I excelled academically but couldn’t afford university and attended Springfield College of Education on a bursary, where I qualified as a teacher.
My grandmother and mother were my source of motivation and inspiration. My faith and prayer anchor me and navigate me through life.My favourite motto is by Maya Angelo “When you learn – Teach; When you get – Give.”
I admire women in leadership, who make a difference in our communities and have not let their circumstances hinder them. I believe in becoming the best version of oneself. In 2012, I had a pulmonary embolism – a wake-up call on the brevity of life. You don’t have to have a near death experience to change your attitude and life!
Boitumelo Ntsoane
I am Boitumelo Ntsoane, born and bred in Atteridgeville. I graduated as a pharmacist from Rhodes University I have a worked in several industries over the past 16 years in the pharmaceutical sector of which the past nine years has been in running my own business.
I have conquered great adversity and challenges to make it a success. I come from a humble background which grounded me – and a mother who gave me a foundation of good principles.
I knew from a young age I wanted to leave a legacy. I knew there was a better life beyond the four-roomed house I grew up in. I spent my youth in church.
Integrity and absolute commitment is crucial in all you do. I challenge any limitations and refuse to surrender to defeat I have envisioned the future I want for myself and rely on God to guide my steps. I never settle for mediocrity.
I am attracted to humble woman in control and am currently drawn to Suzanne Ackerman. To the woman who gave birth to me, my mother, I salute you; my late grandmother who raised me, I know you are looking over me.
Professor Fhumulani Mavis Mulaudzi
I am Professor Fhumulani Mavis Mulaudzi. I was born in the rural areas of Muduluni Ha-Kutama in Limpopo. We played a game called Maseketane where we created stories using stones.
That game assisted me to visualise and construct my future. I realised my potential and it helped me become the leader and a visionary I am today.
I am the chairwoman of the School of Health Care Sciences and a head of a department of nursing science at Tuks. I am also the chairwoman of the Forum of University Nursing Deans in SA.
My career started in Venda Nursing College at a time when it was difficult for black nurses to access University education. I also studied via Unisa where I obtained my doctoral degree in nursing. I juggled my studies with the upbringing of my three children.
My research interest is in women’s health, indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), ethics and human rights. My mother inspired me and taught me that education and knowledge are weapons to conquer the world. She also inculcated in me the caring ubuntu philosophy.
Elizabeth Taylor
My name is Elizabeth Taylor. I am 43. I was born in Soweto and raised by my grandmother. I now work in the office of the chairperson of the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) Before that I worked at the Presidency, Minerals and Energy Department, Airports Company of SA and the Department of Education (District).
My mother died when I was 1 year and five months; my father went missing – during the apartheid era – in 1977 when I was 4. My grandmother was working as a domestic worker with a meagre salary but she gave me the best gift ever – education.
My grandmother died in 2009 with a very sore heart as she did not know where her son was and if he was still alive or dead.
I would have loved to be something in life – maybe an inspiring woman like Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (Under Secretary-General of the UN) as she is the woman I look up to.
She values other women and does not want to see women failing. She always puts women first.
Nonhlanhla Skosana
Nonhlanhla Skosana is a community, education and mobilisation unit manager at Sonke Gender Justice. She focuses her efforts on talking about gender-based violence and its prevention.
“For me, Sonke is a platform where we can talk to men about these issues and say to those who aren’t perpetrators that they can’t turn a blind eye; their silence means they are taking part in violence against women.”
Skosana focuses on men, talking about gender-based violence, equality and prevention.
“Being an activist means you are the voice for the voiceless. You can’t be an activist just when things are fine. You have to be on the streets, fighting the battles for those in need.”
One of the projects she’s working on is Amathuthuzela – a one-stop service space for rape survivors. Sonke is working with 23 community radio stations to promote these centres through a radio drama called Thuthuzeleka.
“It’s important to talk to men about how they can support victims of sexual violence.”
Phindile Sithole-Spong
For a long time, Phindile Sithole-Spong, 27, felt judged because she was born HIV-positive.
When she revealed her status she would endure painful break-ups. But then she made a decision enough is enough. HIV need not define you.
“Telling somebody for the first time that you’re HIV-positive and the reactions they go through. When to tell them… how to tell them7 The trauma that you impose on them and the trauma that you impose on yourself… waiting for the right time”.
Today she is engaged and says her partner was at first taken aback when she disclosed her status on their very first date. But three years later, in a happy and lively relationship, she could not be happier. “We complement each other. There is no one I have as much fun with. Being HIV-positive doesn’t mean you cannot date people who are not It is possible to have a healthy relationship and a great sex life.”
While she feels it is not her duty to make people feel comfortable around her, she is very involved in HIV education, mainly for corporates.
Mpho Ngozi
Mpho Ngozi (nee Dipheko).
My strengths are drawn from my mother Margaret Dipheko, and my life in which I had difficult times having to live in a shack while I was in high school at Tsogo in Mmakau outside Pretoria. Riots and finances meant I could not finish at TUT but started working at a law form in Joburg when I was 20.
I was recommended to an NGO funded by USAid to facilitate bursaries for South African students. I moved to Turfloop as PA to the deputy vice chancellor, Professor. Muxe Nkondo, a dedicated educator and academic, before moving back to Gauteng and a position at the Independent Broadcasting Authority (now lcasa) where my mentor was Lyndall Shope-Mafole.
I became assistant private secretary to Thabo Mbeki when he was deputy president and president.
Women are hard workers and therefore, let us support each other.
Women are powerful and no one can take the power from them because the power was given by God and not man made.
Octavia Ephraim
I am Octavia Ephraim, the founder of OCTAPEAR Image Consulting Firm. I offer extensive professional services to executives, entrepreneurs and church leaders. I have been quoted in numerous newspapers and magazines on image matters. I’m also the producer and host The Octavia Ephraim Show, broadcast weekly on Elev8TV (mobile TV).
In 2009 when I got involved with the Mrs United Nation competition, I wanted to represent a cause. I came across human trafficking and took action, so being an activist is personal.
My philosophy: Do what you can in your own power and let God take care of the rest! Who inspires me?
1. My grandmother –She was strong, giving and nurturing her family, in-laws, community and church. She lived Matthew 516. She taught me to pray, to love unconditionally, to respect others and to forgive.
2. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma – She embodies the possibilities of South African women (you and I), earning global recognition. I salute you Zimbokodol.
Mbali Mahlangu
My name is Mbali Mahlangu. I am a supply chain manager at a leading pharmaceutical company in SA. I am an industrial engineer by qualification, having studied BSc (Industrial Engineering) at Wits University.
I have done postgraduate studies with the Wits Business School mainly focusing on leadership development Currently I am completing a postgraduate diploma in industrial engineering with Wits. I believe in continuously advancing and developing oneself, especially in this fast changing era to always reinvent oneself.
I am married with two kids. I have two sisters. We were brought up by two most amazing women, my late grandmother and mother. They taught us that no situation should define us nor define the path we wish to follow.
Through them, I learnt early on in life that through faith, positive thinking, hard work and commitment, one cannot go wrong. Coming from Orange Farm, but having a dream and a vision, I succeeded against all odds, knowing that God guided me. Moments shouldn’t define us; we should define the moments.
Kerry Kalweit
Kerry Kalweit, 25. I am finishing my Masters in clinical research at the University of Pretoria, and am also third year Medicine student at Wits. I have been living (and thriving) with Type 1 diabetes since 2004. My diagnosis led to my work as general manager for a non profit organisation called Youth With Diabetes (YWD) YWD aims to empower children, teenagers and young adults with knowledge, skills and confidence to live happy, healthy lives with diabetes.
Education is empowering – it’s an eye-opener that allows your ambitions to grow with the increased awareness of what is possible to achieve.
This is exactly what people living with chronic conditions need: confirmation that their dreams are still in every way possible, perhaps just with some support.
One of the most influential women in my life is Sr Hester Davel, YWD co-founder. Her passion to help others is infectious, yet humble, while gently challenging others to reach their potential. She helped me to find my life’s purpose – to specialise as an endocrinologist to help diabetics.
Djenaba Bathily
My name is Djenaba Bathily. I am a global marketing and communications expert I’ve lived in several countries on the continent – I’m a big fan of Africa!
I am a proactive, creative and passionate self-starter. When I get a shell of a business or project, I always put “meat on the bones” and make it attractive and profitable.
I like empowering and mentoring people, especially women because I believe we are the foundation of society.
My philosophy is to give the best to life because it is simply so precious and also… so fragile!
The woman who inspires me most and is my role model is Fenda Bathily, my late grandmother. She was phenomenal. Despite not being formally educated, she displayed very high levels of intelligence and knowledge.
She had an impressive capacity to analyse many topics, including politics. She always exuded an “aura” of strength, dignity, peace and love. I also admire Oprah Winfrey because of how she rose above her circumstances to become so successful.
Dr Namane Magau
My name is Dr Namane Magau. From the experiences I gained as an executive director I now serve on several boards as a director, and management consulting.
I hold a doctorate in education from Harvard University and served on the Board of Harvard Educational Review for two years during my studies.
Over the years I have been involved in development of women leadership and research through various roles as president of BWA that initiated the first Census on the Status of Women in Corporales in South Africa, comparing their status with that of womenin other countries. As president of IWFSA we also initiated studies in five African countries to establish the role of women in the economies. Currently I am working with the University of Pretoria on initiatives to promote research for women economic empowerment My philosophy is this:
A more human and prosperous world depends on all of us.
The women who continue to inspire me are my late mother, grandmother, Charlotte Maxeke, Joan Joffe and Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
Yolisa Mdiya
I am Yolisa Mdiya, born in the Eastern Cape and I have been called to serve.
I am a social change agent and I believe I have been called specifically to counter patriarchal structures that continue to hinder the success of black young girls in South Africa.
I work as a provincial fieldworker at the Soul City Institute.
Corporate South Africa has really shown me that patriarchal structures still exist in this day and age.
I want to guide those who come after me to continue the work and hopefully work together towards a nation that promotes the abilities and capabilities of women.
I have always drawn my strength and inspiration from my mother.
She is the one who continues to empower other women beyond her job description.
What makes me woman is symbolised not only by my womb, but also my strength.
As a woman I was born to create and birth. I believe my empowerment is the empowerment of a nation.
Kavitha Kalicharan
Kavitha Kalicharan has more than 14 years industry related experience and has for the past three years been managing a small PR agency called Taurus Communications.
Kavitha also held the position of vice chairman for the Gauteng region for two years and has been the chairman for the past two years of this company.
Kavitha also facilitates on various disciplines of PR for PROVOX, the Centre for Communication Management
This year, she was also privileged to be nominated as one of the judges for the World Public Relations Forum that took place in Toronto in Canada in May.
As a thought leader in the industry, Kavitha is highly rated by her colleagues and held in high standing throughout the industry.
She is in high demand and is asked to speak at various functions throughout the country.
Kavitha has been requested to make presentations at many conferences.
Her expertise has also secured her invitations to address various workshops during the past three years.
This article was originally written for The Cape Times
By Lisa Isaacs and Nicolette Dirk
South Africa remains a deeply patriarchal society, with one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.
Women earn less in the workplace and are far less likely to be in management positions.
As the country pays homage today to the 20 000 women who took to the streets in 1956 in protest against the pass law, statistics show that women are still not on equal footing with their male counterparts.
On average, three women a day are killed by intimate partners.
South African women also earn 15 percent less than their male counterparts, according to a 2015 study by the South African Board for People Practices.
They found that over the last 100 years, the progress in narrowing the gender pay gap has been painfully slow.
A survey released by Grant Thornton this year showed leadership positions held by women decreased from 27 percent in 2015 to 26 percent in 2016.
Sonke Gender Justice executive director Dean Peacock said: “Violence and HIV are exacerbated by gender norms that equate manhood with dominance over women, the use of alcohol, the belief that men must be independent and not seek help, as well as by norms that encourage women to be submissive.
“Gender-based violence is entrenched by a slow and often ineffectual justice system which takes too long to bring perpetrators to book or not at all.”
The 2015 General Household Survey shows close to two-thirds of fathers do not live at home with their biological children.
“This number has stayed more or less the same for the past decade.
“There remains a huge gap in fathers’ presence in their children’s lives and gives rise to a lack of positive male role models in South African society.”
The Saartjie Baartman Centre receives an increasing number of women seeking help.
In the past financial year, the centre has assisted 3 354 people, many of whom are not just victims of gender-based violence, but did not feel safe in their communities, centre director Shaheema McLeod said.
Of the clients assisted, 31.56 percent reported they suffered physical abuse and 13.73 percent suffered emotional abuse.
Over 30 percent said the perpetrators were their partners or ex-partners; 14 percent said the perpetrators were boyfriends; and 13 percent identified the perpetrators as children.
According to StatsSA, gender disparities continue to exist in access to benefits.
The proportion of employees who had access to pension/retirement fund contributions by their employer increased from 45.5 percent in 2008 to 48.9
“As women have to fulfil many roles in society that needs to be considered. She is an employee, a mother, a cook, a cleaner.
There needs to be flexibility for women, who are usually the ones who have to leave the office when a child is sick.”
Peacock said women need to be empowered through edu cation and equal work wages.
“We need to make sure that our laws on gender-based violence are properly enforced and that our government puts in place measures to prevent violence. This will include providing psycho-social support to children exposed to violence, banning corporal punishment and engaging with men and boys to challenge the deeply entrenched and harmful gender norms in South Africa.”
This article was originally written for the Cape Times
By Francesca Villette
There is no concrete plan from government on how it can combat violence against women and children, Sonke Gender Justice spokesman Patrick Godana said yesterday.
As the country celebrates Women’s Day today, Godana said men were paramount in helping to build an equal society as they were also responsible for raising children.
But there is much to be desired when it comes to combating domestic and sexual abuse by men, which could crash a society, Godana said.
According to StatsSA about 60 percent of households are male-headed.
“We live in a patriarchal country and there is no plan from government to address violence within the home. We are playing the waiting game to hear what programmes will be put in place.
“The effects of physical, mental, and emotional abuse by men can have devastating effects on women,” Godana said.
The Institute for Security Studies defines domestic abuse as either physical and sexual abuse, economic abuse, emotional, verbal and psychological abuse, and any other controlling behaviour such as intimidation, harassment and stalking.
Molo Songololo director Patrie Solomons said fathers need to give their children love on a daily basis, and when it comes to their daughters, they need to treat them the way they would want another man to treat her. But too many fathers get caught up in a “mysogynistic social space”.
“The best time a father can play a role to help ensure children become active and responsible members of society is during their formative years. They might not realise it, but this is when children pick up on behaviour and mimic that behaviour. If, for example, a father tells everyone his daughter is a little sunshine princess but abuses her mother at home and the child sees that, it will confuse her about men and harm her expectations of how they should treat her,” he said.
This article was written for IOL By Francesca Villette
The response from young fathers to workshops promoting gender equality and improving men’s caregiving skills is testament to their willingness to be a part of their children’s lives.
This is according to Kerryn Rehse, Mosaic MenCare+ manager, which offered the service to new and expectant fathers recently.
The MenCare+ programme, developed by Mosaic, and implemented by Sonke Gender Justice in 2013, allowed men to attend 12 discussion sessions where they shared their experiences related to caregiving, fatherhood, gender roles, sexual and reproductive health, family planning, and non-violent parenting.
In these discussions, trainers encouraged the participants to become actively involved in raising their children, supporting their partners and sharing the work at home.
Rehse said fathers between the ages of 18 and 35 showed great keenness for the project, which unfortunately came to an end as funds have run dry. Mosaic is, however, still open for coaching young dads in their roles as parents.
“The programme brought together new and expectant fathers, and created a space for them to explore the idea of fatherhood and ask questions. They were taught everything from how to change a nappy to how to deal with conflict they might experience with their spouses. It was a three-year pilot project and was very well received. It showed us that men want to learn how to be better fathers,” Rehse said. Some women also joined, as gender transformation was also challenged. “In order to transform the roles of men and women in the house, both needed to be present.” Trainers encouraged participants to become actively involved in raising their children, supporting their partners, and sharing the work at home.
UN Women estimates that one in 10 of South Africa’s women are victims of violence each year. There are myriad complex reasons why the country has such high rates of gender-based violence. High unemployment rates and poverty have left many men feeling frustrated and powerless, while the nation’s recent past – the armed struggle against apartheid – led to a normalisation of violence”.
Our work at Sonke Gender Justice is to tackle the issue by turning men into better husbands and fathers. Read more about our work in this interview Women and Girls Hub conducted with Patrick Godana, our Media and Government liaison.
“New legislation proposes to tackle crimes based on prejudice and hatred, but as Deputy Minister of Justice John Jeffery noted, legislation alone ‘cannot change the hearts, minds and attitudes of people’.
Educators, social workers and citizens have been working to change homophobic attitudes, targeting segments of communities where those attitudes are perpetuated.”
“Ten cases of ‘corrective’ rape take place in Cape Town every week. But other than a handful of statistics collected by civil society, comprehensive data does not exist because ‘corrective’ rapes aren’t noted separately from rape.
Hate crimes are not classified as a distinct crime category, and no official data is collected on these types of crimes. In an effort to change this, a diverse network of civil society advocacy organisations formed the Hate Crimes Working Group in 2002, and in 2015 they began working with the Department of Justice on new legislation.
“South Africa may become the first African country to decriminalise sex work. If it does, it will be one of a handful of countries that have fully decriminalised sex work (including New Zealand and New South Wales in Australia), and the first African country to do so. Currently only Senegal makes some provision for legal sex work and subjects it to regulation”.
“Decriminalisation [of sex work] would enhance the ability of sex workers to work without interference. It will make it easier for them to seek services and redress. This view is advocated by organisations such as the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce and Sonke Gender Justice, as well as the Commission for Gender Equality. Even the African National Congress Women’s League has nailed its colours to this mast”, writes Cathi Albertyn, in this Newsweek article.
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