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Eastern Cape premier urges rural women to report abuse

Oscar Mabuyane speaking at Lusikisiki College of Education.
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Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane called on women, especially those in rural areas, to report cases of gender-based violence.

Mabuyane was addressing the Women’s Dialogue with President Cyril Ramaphosa in the province.

It has been reported that some rural women do not report gender-based violence for fear of being judged by their communities. Others have conceded that they are staying in abusive marriages for the sake of their children.

Mabuyane says government needs to play a more active role in empowering these women.

“The issue that we are dealing with here, femicide and the gender-based violence is a very terrible one especially in the rural setup. Women here are subjected in unbearable conditions, really unable to speak out, really unable to go and report these matters to police stations for a number of reasons. We have got to embark on a very vigorous campaign to capacitate them, give them necessary tools to speak out, support them, develop them as well so that women understand that they are not subjects of men,” said Mabuyane.

“We’ve got to find a way of taking them out of that situation. We are calling everyone to come on board, churches, society, NGOs, traditional leaders to work together with government to make sure that we confront this scourge,” he added.

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