Pretoria - Former football star Brian Baloyi has broken silence about how his mother suffered abuse at the hands of his father, saying the gender-based violence (GBV) negatively affected him while growing up as a teenager.
Baloyi, who was Kaizer Chief’s goalkeeper, was speaking at an event hosted by the Gauteng provincial government on Saturday at the Saulsville Arena in Atteridgeville to mark the closing of the 16 Days of Activism campaign.
People came in droves came from across the province to join a campaign aimed at mobilising men to take collective responsibility in the prevention of violence against women and children in their respective communities.
Baloyi added his voice to the campaign by discouraging men from abusing women and making them aware of the psychological trauma their victims have to suffer because of their actions.
“Growing up as a young boy I saw my dad abuse my mom. And I am saying this for the first time.
“This thing happened for almost 10 years to a point where when I was 15 I then decided that this is enough. I had to raise a hand and fight my dad and stop this thing and it was the last time he laid a hand on my mom. It was in 1989,” he said.
He said he was sharing the story because men needed to understand “the psychological damage” that they were causing to women by beating them.
“I don’t have pictures of me from birth until (I was) 15 years old. Until that day that I stopped my dad from beating my mom.
“He used to come and go and every time he would come he would burn my mom’s clothes and burn all our albums. I don’t have pictures when I was a child because he burnt them,” Baloyi said.
He called on people to stop shifting the blame on the government and take responsibility “because there is no amount of money that could fix this (scourge of GBV)”.
“Let’s hold each other accountable. That’s where it starts,” he said.
Sihle Sibisi, founder of Kwanelo Foundation, an organisation advocating against GBV, femicide and human trafficking, encouraged people to speak up against the abuse of women.
“We will not turn a blind eye because we understand that GBV and femicide happen to anybody - any time. Don’t be confused by those who live in high wall houses because in those houses they are living under the syndrome of ‘what will people say’,” she said.
She urged the government to join activists in their call to make noise about GBV for 365 days.
“During the outbreak of Covid-19 money was made available from abroad and from everywhere. So, we are saying let money and resources be put towards the fight against GBV and femicide for 365 days,” she said.
Actor Sello Maake KaNcube said men must be good examples in their households, keep the doors of communication open and take care of their families.
“Men let us know that it is up to us to make our country better,” he said.
Pretoria News