N Balindlela: Day of accountability for 16 Days of Activism
Campaign

10 December 2007

Programme director
Honourable members of the executive council
Honourable members of the legislature
Our honoured traditional leaders
Mayors and leaders in local government
Members of the business community
Directors-General and heads of department
Senior civil servants and officials
Members of civil society organisations
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentleman

Today is hailed as the day of accountability on the 16 Days of Activism for
No Violence Against Women and Children campaign. The expectation is that all
government departments, non-governmental organisations, organised business,
organs of civil society and all stakeholders account about what has been done
to date to stop the brutality of violence against women and children.

It is also instructive that this day falls on the "International Human
Rights Day" because women and children's rights are human rights. The outcry in
the country about 50/50 representation of men and women in decision-making
structures echoes this very sentiment of promoting human rights for all people
in South Africa.

In pursuance of the call made by the honourable President of the Republic of
South Africa, Mr Thabo Mbeki, we in the Eastern Cape Province are proceeding
with the 365 days campaign in fulfilment of our commitment to end the abuse of
women and children.

We will not eliminate the scourge of violence in our society until we
address the root causes. Part of the fundamental causes relate to the unequal
socioeconomic relations that exist between men and women in our society.
Dependence by some women on men for economic resources is one of the causes of
abuse. This is the reason why some women are reluctant to report violations on
their human rights, resulting in a cycle of abuse. The provincial government
has begun responding to the issue of gender equality as one strategy to fight
gender-based violence, by doing the following:

* Launching of the Charlotte Maxeke Women's Development Fund, which has seen
a number of women who have started their own enterprises.
* Launched Women in Taxi Industry in Alfred Nzo and OR Tambo Districts.
* Hosted boys and girls Indaba in provincial and district levels to empower the
youth on constitutional values of equality, dignity and respect for human
rights in promoting responsible citizenry.
* During the launch of the 16 Days campaign, government symbolically assigned
27 houses to survivors of violence and abuse to promote their
independence.
* Thirty-nine schools identified as hotspots were given budget for installation
of search lights.
* Intensive implementation of the Provincial Policy Framework for Gender
Equality and Women's Empowerment by all provincial government departments.

These are some efforts by government, and I ask what have you done to bring
an end to violence against women and children? What does the community do when
an elderly woman is being brutally attacked because she is alleged to be
engaged in witchcraft?

We collectively fought against apartheid and defeated it. If we all do our
part we will also end the scourge of violence in our society. As members of
communities, townships, villages and suburbs, we must have the resolve that for
365 days we will not look away. We must pledge not be the silent accomplices
who pretend that the violence happening in our families, communities and
neighbourhoods does not exist.

* When will you report your neighbour who neglects children?
* When will you start supporting the survivor who was raped by the person we
all know in our midst?
* When will you speak up against violence, and break the cycle of abuse that
you are facing in your home?

These are simply acts that can go a long way in eliminating violence in our
society. This is what government means by saying, Do Not Look Away – Act
against violence in order to stop this plague. We must collectively ensure that
perpetrators of violence face the full might of the criminal justice system. In
this regard, government supports the Victims Charter, which outlines, for the
first time, the rights of victims of crime. The Victims Charter places
survivors of abuse at the centre of the criminal justice system by conferring
rights that prevent unwitting secondary victimisation of survivors by the
system that seeks to protect them. The duty is on service providers, such as
police officers, prosecutors, interpreters, maintenance clerks and magistrates,
to ensure that the seven rights contained in the Victims' Charter are
observed.

In particular, the right to be treated with fairness, respect, dignity and
privacy, the right to receive information, the right to protection and the
right to assistance. There is huge need to strengthen the gender machinery to
champion gender equality across many sectors, from families to workplaces and
institutions of learning. The gender machinery should forge conscious
partnerships with parents and all those in loco parentis positions such as
teachers, preachers, community leaders to encourage deepened appreciation of
our societal values as enshrined in our Constitution. It is time society
engenders to both boy and girl children the constitutional values of mutual
respect, equality and promotion of a human rights culture to truly break the
cycle and eradicate violence in our society.

Influential members of the community including religious leaders,
traditional leaders, parents, teachers, and all those who serve as role models
for our children should engender appropriate community value systems and ethos.
While it is encouraging to see that the National Men's Forum has become very
active in our country. When we launched the 16 Days of Activism thousands of
men took to marching in the streets of Lusikisiki to make a stand against
violence. The number of men who speak out and stand against violence is still
insufficient compared to the majority men perpetrators of violence. Democracy
and the vision of the Freedom Charter depend on men and women who are empowered
to defend the values equality, mutual respect, and the promotion of a human
rights culture in our society. This is in fact what ubuntu in our African
culture is all about.

I conclude by challenging all of us, both individually and collectively, to
ask: what one constructive act have I done to end violence in my community? You
can still do something. The 16 Days Campaign may be officially coming to its
closure today. But the struggle to end violence and to promote equality for all
continues.

I thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
10 December 2007
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za)