President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the establishment of “men’s dialogues” as a platform to assist South Africa address the scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) which has been described as the country’s “second pandemic”.
Addressing the nation in his weekly newsletter on Monday, Ramaphosa said the dialogues would focus “on preventing toxic men and boys from becoming abusers in the first place.”
“These men’s dialogues can be platforms for men to challenge each other to become better men, to be more responsible, more understanding and more caring,” Ramaphosa said.
Latest official figures show that over 13,000 women were victims of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm between July and September this year while more than 10,000 rape cases were reported during the same period.
The statistics also show that some 989 women were killed during the three months, with 1,277 more surviving attempted murders.
Ramaphosa urged men to use the proposed dialogue platforms “to consider their attitudes towards women and girls.”
“Men need to understand that they can and should express their pain and frustrations without inflicting harm on women,” he said.
He called on government officials, non-governmental organisations and the private sector to support such dialogue platforms in workplace, place of worship, school, college, university and in every community.
“As President, I stand ready to participate in men’s dialogues. I call on ministers, premiers, religious, political and community leaders, sports people, artists, celebrities and business people to do the same as well,” he said
NM/jn/APA