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Anglican Church members march in Mthatha to condemn violence against women, children

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Members of the Anglican Church in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, have come out against violence against women and children. The congregants made their voice heard with a march through the town, hoping to draw the attention of the government to deal with this scourge.

Women continue to be the target of murderers and rapists in the OR Tambo region. The area is also known as a hotbed for the so-called witchcraft murders where elderly women are targeted on the back of rumours that they practice witchcraft.

Many young women also die at the hands of lovers and spouses.

The latest incident to shock the area was the murder of two women near Port St Johns. They were beheaded and dumped.  The Anglican Church Mothers president, Nyameka Tukute says the church believes it can play an important role to stop the killing of women.

“We are also emphasising that women must be given a chance and must be trained to be independent from men. They must not be dependent because some of them are dying in the process of dependency on men.”

As SABC’s Nkululeko Nyembezi reports, the congregants want to draw the attention of government to deal with the scourge of violence against women and children:

The judiciary in Mthatha says it’s working hand in hand with victims of gender-based violence. Mthatha Chief Magistrate Nozuko Mviko says all cases of gender-based violence receive the necessary attention.

“With the independence of the judiciary, we monitor the finalization and there are different sections, others will deal with the finalization of cases, others are doing counseling of victims and others are ensuring that when the victim is in court is supported.”

There is still a large number of cases that go unreported in rural areas because the victims are threatened by their tormentors as two rural women, Nomzamo Mjelo and Nomvuselelo explains.

“These problems are very common in our communities especially in young women because they are always afraid of these men who raped them because they always tell that, I am going to kill you if you tell your mother so the young ladies are afraid of dying. 2. She phoned and told us that there is a child who is 13 years old and this child is pregnant so can we intervene and we did go there and the child told us that she was raped by her grandfather”.

The Station Commander of the Madeira Police Station in Mthatha, Thaynny Fetze, urges communities to report any form of gender-based violence.

“We are encouraging people that if they are suffering some form of domestic violence that they must report and we can assist them to both report the criminal case as well as apply for the protection.”

The stakeholders fighting this scourge are urging victims to file cases and seek legal recourse. Rape and abuse often end up being resolved amongst families, denying the victims of justice.

 

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