Cape Town - In response to the spike in incidents of gender-based violence and femicide in Delft, Ilitha Labantu took its antigender-based violence motorcade into the area in a bid to encourage residents to take a stand against the scourge plaguing the community.
The Uthuleleni Anti-GBV motorcade is a series of information distribution programmes dispatched throughout communities in a bid to help break the silence on GBV in the communities and seek to prevent it through equipping communities with life-saving information.
Ilitha Labantu spokesperson Siyabulela Monakali said the organisation had a significant number of GBV cases it attended to in the Delft community.
Monakali said the motorcade came about as a response to the high incident rate of violence against women and children in the Delft community, currently ranked number one on the top 30 list of GBV hot spots.
It also follows after local organisation Women Impacting A Nation handed over a memorandum to the Bellville Magistrate’s Court after the shooting of three women within six days in August.
The organisation made other demands on the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to render quality services to the community. It also demanded the department partner with community organisations to raise awareness of vulnerable groups.
Monakali said while they were deeply encouraged by the fruitful partnership in helping to raise awareness about the scourge of violence against women and children, they were also concerned about the silence that has befallen the scourge.
“The motorcade is a call to action for communities to take a collective stand to end gender-based violence and femicide.
“We are aware that Delft is ranked number one on the top 30 GBV hot spot list in South Africa and we are doing our part as an organisation to forge change in communities affected by high rates of violence perpetrated on women and children.
“These efforts will go a long way in bringing the positive change we need to put an end to the scourge of violence against women and children,” he said.
Monakali said the organisation strongly believed that it was through collective effort that communities could effectively address the scourge troubling households and communities.
Women Impacting A Nation director Farida Ryklief said survivors of GBV in the area did not have access to court services. She said as a result they became despondent and ended up not following their cases, resulting in the acquittal of perpetrators.
Ryklief called for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to prioritise safety of women and children.