One woman facing abuse and rape is one too many. Using this benchmark, the road ahead of us is long and it will take many years to eradicate the scourge. But as the 2004 Sixteen Days of Activism, devoted to ending gender violence, begins, we choose to highlight the ‘sheroes’ who have used the political space of the past 10 years to begin to make inroads into the crippling rates of rape and abuse that still bedevil South African men and women. Among them are those who have helped forge policy, innovate institutions, such as the specialised sexual offences courts, and ensure that this is seen not only as a women’s battle. There are thousands of South Africans working to end violence against women and children. Some work quietly behind the scenes; others find publicising problems a good step towards solving them. We highlight the contribution of a small sample of activists who are tackling the issue.
Vanessa Anthony
For eight years the Molo Songololo child rights worker led a team researching child trafficking and sexual exploitation, highlighting the lack of legislation and awareness at parliamentary hearings. Anthony played a key role — through advocacy and networking — in the conviction of Amien Andrews, owner of a Cape Town brothel for which underaged girls were kidnapped and raped. This year the South African Law Commission started work on a “trafficking of persons” issue paper, usually the first step towards legislation.
Mbuyiselo Botha
The South African Men’s Forum is committed to involving men in the fight against woman and child abuse, and Botha is its secretary general and “foot soldier”. A year ago, the forum joined the Human Sciences Research Council to support the Fatherhood Project, highlighting the need for men to become actively involved with social issues such as the importance of a father in a child’s life. The forum’s shebeen project focuses on men who regularly visit places such as taverns and educates them on issues of woman and child abuse and the responsibility of fatherhood. The forum has also established counselling projects for prison inmates.
Dr Zubeda Dangor
Working in Lenasia, Orange Farm and Soweto, the Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development, which Dangor heads, runs a shelter providing emergency accommodation for 22 abused women and their children. The numbers are small, but Dangor maintains both a grassroots and a national presence. Counselling, life skills development and referrals are on offer, as is professional emotional support for children who have witnessed or been victims of domestic violence. Nisaa also organises media campaigns and hosts talks, seminars, workshops and conferences to promote public awareness about violence against women.
Cheryl Gillwald
Gillwald is the Deputy Minister of Correctional Services. While she was deputy minister of justice, her particular field of interest was factors affecting woman and child abuse, and she drove the project in the department to establish courts dealing with the prosecution of sexual offenders. Fifty have now been established, cutting the time a case takes to be finalised to six months, and “intermediaries” have been introduced to help children understand the trial process. Gillwald has also led the national campaign to focus for 16 days every year on preventing violence against women and children.
Pregs Govender
Before she went to Parliament, Govender was project manager of the Women’s National Coalition, whose campaigns led to the Women’s Charter for Effective Equality. As an African National Congress MP she chaired the joint parliamentary standing committee on the quality of life and status of women. She argued the need for a gender budget, highlighting the allocation of resources to women and children; and she declined to vote on the multi-billion-rand arms deal in 1998, stating that the government could not afford to spend so much on artillery when millions were dying of HIV/Aids because they could not access treatment.
Thoko Majokweni
Under the direction of Majokweni, head of the sexual offences and community affairs unit of the National Prosecuting Authority, the unit established a rape audit to assess the time taken for a rape case to get to court, sentences imposed, prevalence and types of rape per region and the quality of evidence; and specialised “domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault” units in the police. She also worked for the establishment of sexual offences courts.
Fiona Nicholson
Nicholson is head of the Thohoyandou Trauma Centre at Tshilidzini hospital in Venda, which provides counselling, medical examinations and anti-retroviral treatment 24/7. It is part of the Thohoyandou victim empowerment programme, which assigns volunteer case monitors. The system has led to an increase in convictions in the sexual offences court. The centre employs 50 peer educators who conduct public awareness campaigns about domestic violence and violence against women and children. As community awareness has improved, the rate of sexual offences and domestic abuse has declined.
Njongonkulu Ndungane
Archbishop Ndungane brought men publicly into campaigns against gender violence. Dressed in his purple robe, he led the first men’s march in 2001 and has raised the topic of woman and child abuse on public platforms, the pulpit and elsewhere. In the background he has helped facilitate consultations between gender activists and civil society groups like trade unions and government. As chairperson of the inter-religious commission on crime and violence he has worked with other religious leaders to put women’s rights issues such as domestic violence on the agenda of churches, mosques, temples and synagogues.
Mbhazima Shilowa
Under the leadership of Premier Shilowa, Gauteng has done very well by its women. The province also leads the way in HIV treatment. In the past 10 years, it has become clear that sexual violence fuels the HIV/Aids pandemic and Gauteng has been at the forefront of efforts to provide both prevention and treatment for those affected and infected by HIV. For this he gets our white ribbon. By mid-November 19 public health facilities were providing anti-retroviral treatment to 13 130 HIV-positive mothers and 10 469 babies.
Lisa Vetten
Vetten, as manager of the gender programme at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, has greatly raised the profile of gender issues. A consultant on gender issues for the television drama series Soul City, she also facilitates workshops relating to gender issues and violence against women. Before her appointment she was education co-ordinator at the Sexual Harassment Education Project, where she helped women with cases, compiled material and assisted with training on the issue of sexual harassment.
Compiled by Marianne Merten, Lloyd Gedye, Cheri-Ann James and Motlatsi Lebea