Programme Director, Ms Zodwa Magwaza
His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen,
Comrades and friends,
I am greatly honoured to officially open the launch of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Campaign for No Violence against Women and Children.
Comrade President, indeed your presence here and priority you have given to this campaign underscore the seriousness with which our government approaches the problem of violence and abuse of women and children.
2010 marks the 11th anniversary of this campaign. Going by a review conducted last year when we completed 10 years of the legitimate fight against gender violence, inequality and excesses of patriarchy and culture, I am confident that our work in this area is bearing fruit. The campaign has come of age.
Lest we forget, the 16 Days of Activism is a United Nations-endorsed campaign taking place annually, from 25 November, which is International Day of No Violence against Women, and 10 December, which is International Human Rights Day. Since 1999, our government has led a parallel campaign covering thorny issues relating to violence against children.
In the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, the campaign has gained momentum following the adoption, by Heads of State, of the Addendum on the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women and Children, in 1998. This is a campaign meant to generate awareness around the impact of abuse and violence against women and children.
Today, 24 November, is officially the first day of this very important campaign urging all of us to rally all South Africans behind this noble effort aimed at protecting and improving the lives of women and children ensuring they enjoy equal protection under the law and equal access to justice. Evidence shows heightened awareness has been achieved. The Government Communications (GCIS) Tracker Survey 2008/09 confirms the campaign has grown exponentially, making it the second most known government event in South Africa, after the State of the Nation Address.
The survey shows a 33% annual average in levels of public awareness of the campaign. Interestingly, in rural areas, there has also been a rise in public awareness from nine percent in 2003 to 33% in 2009. The 16 Days Campaign was voted one of the top five public sector campaigns by the citizens of this country.
We launch this year’s campaign fortified by the fact that women, under the leadership of the African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL), have intensified efforts aimed at making gender equality a societal issue. The women are saying this is a do-or-die campaign calling for all our participation, involving both victims and perpetrators.
The review of the campaign’s first decade makes this a crucial development calling for strong partnerships between government and all sectors of civil society. In the build-up to this launch, civil society stakeholder meetings were convened to help garner support. Key stakeholders in this regard have included several government departments like Basic Education, Social Development, Justice and the Ministry for Women.
This critical network, united behind the slogan “Don’t Look Away – Act Against Abuse”, included, and will thus continue, Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA), National Association of People living with HIV and AIDS (NAPWA), Progressive Women's Movement of South Africa (PWMSA),
South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO), the Positive Men’s Movement, the Tripartite Alliance and many other organisations. An important milestone is the active involvement of men in the fight against the abuse of women and children.
It is this unity in action that informed why as women and government representatives we threw our weight behind the International Men’s Day activities last week, anchored by Positive men's movement of South Africa (POMESA) and NAPWA in Daveyton. Engaging men will help us show boys the pitfalls of masculinity and related stereotypes.
We are thankful to continue walking the path to true equality with supportive corporate partners like First National Bank.We open the 2010 programme resolved that this is one campaign that must succeed just as we prevailed against legislated forms of discrimination and human rights violations in the recent history of South Africa. The abuse of a mother, any mother, affects the well-being of the children, it reverberates within the whole family and throws the whole community into disarray.
Now is the time to remember that rights of women and children are fundamental human rights entrenched in and protected by the Constitution.
We have said this before. 16 Days is a sharp and focused campaign where we pull all stops to register the plight of women in dire straits in the hearts and minds of all our people.
16 Days is a sharpened tool for pricking the guilty conscience of abusers and violators of children, sisters and mothers. It is about heightening and intensifying our collective efforts. I must repeat. In essence, this has to be a 365 Days Campaign precisely because even violations happen the year over. More monthly events will make sense. When a woman is abused in January, we can’t wait for 16 Days sometime in November.
This goes to make an all year round campaign the more logical. Sharpening our efforts around the clock is a prerequisite for the all out fight against moral decadence in all its facets. Fighting social ills over 365 Days of every year prepares the ground fora heightened offensive against other coordinates and underlying factors of abuse.
The worst of these monsters we face is drug and substance abuse, particularly alcohol abuse, which obviously requires a serious campaign, beyond 16 Days. You know that many a crime is committed and many a woman is grievously assaulted by a man who at the end of it all claims shamelessly, and with no remorse, that he did it because he was drunk.
This year, our message must be very clear – “Being drunk is not smart!”
The model we have adopted against gender-based violence is working, although with serious constraints, including inadequate resources. Granted, the recently released Crime Trends report (September 2010) indicates “significant decreases in the ratios of Sexual Offences (-4.4%) and other contact crimes, from 144.8 sexual offences per 100 000 of the population in 2008/2009 to 138.5 sexual offences per 100 000 of the population in 2009/2010. This represents a decrease from 70 514 to 68 332 cases”.
Government has also launched 26 Thuthuzela Centres countrywide which are linked to sexual offences courts, prosecutors, social workers, investigating officers, magistrates, health professionals and NGOs. The Department of Justice is expanding this programme to maximise access of women to justice, with one Thuthuzela Centre opening in KwaZulu-Natal.
But the Crime Trends report also presents shocking statistics showing significant increases of 42,3% in attempted murder, 36.1% in sexual offences and 14.5% in the incidence of murder against children, between 2008/2009 and 2009/2010.
Comrades and friends,
The power we wield as women must be felt when we protect our gains in next year’s local government elections. Our voice must be heard at the coalface of delivery. Before concluding, I have to say, success depends on the support and participation of all stakeholders. From where I sit in government, I have seen people’s power at work. When we talk school safety, we know it comes from the community. Izakhamuzi zihlala zikhona at all times. So, communities are key to the safety of children. The people are key to the protection of women and children. We therefore must involve schools, in addition to churches and clinics, to spread the word.
We will say this campaign has succeeded when we have made it our duty to do something about the safety of children. We cannot come out of the trenches when our children are completely vulnerable. It cannot be business as usual when 69% of victims of abuse are children.
We cannot “teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour human brotherhood, liberty and peace” as we say in the Freedom Charter, when we allow children to be victimised.
The campaign we are launching today must help us build strong community-based capacity better to confront this monster of child abuse, rape, brutal killings of defenceless grannies, drug and substance abuse, foetal alcohol syndrome, human trafficking and violent crime.
Comrade President,
The women of this country will always be grateful for the gift of the Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. With this Ministry we are able to claim our voice as women. We support this year’s global theme of the campaign, which is, “Structures of Violence: Defining the intersections of Militarism and Violence against Women”.
Finally, today’s event must help us steer the 2010 Campaign towards more implementation of the recommendations of the 10-Year Social Impact Assessment and the Stakeholders Summit hosted during the 2009 campaign.
People want to see more action over and above celebrations and commemorations.
The 2010 16 Days Campaign must help us lay the foundation for a more effective implementation of the 365 National Action Plan. Once more welcome and thank you for making the launch of this year’s campaign a success. Work has just begun. You must take it back to your provinces and roll-it out for the next 16 Days and beyond. Together we can break the silence and decisively ‘Act against Abuse’. Wear you white ribbon proudly like you did the colours of Bafana Bafana and support the campaign.
Amandla!
Enquiries:
Granville Whittle
Cell: 072 148 9575
