ANCWL to march to Union Buildings over GBV
The ANC Women's League will march to the Union Buildings on Friday to raise awareness about the challenges faced by victims of gender-based violence.
The march forms part of the league’s participation in the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign.
On Wednesday, the league’s Secretary General Nokuthula Nqaba briefed the media on the initiative, saying they will hand over a memorandum of demands to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Nqaba outlined some of their key demands.
"The ANC Women’s League and our partners recommit to mobilise society beyond our social and political persuasions to march to the Union Buildings on Friday under the theme ‘United for Justice: Ending GBV and Femicide in our Lifetime’.
“This theme emphasises unity, justice, and the collective effort needed to address and eradicate gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa.
We demand, among other things, stricter no-bail measures from the courts, mandatory training for police and judicial officials to handle GBV cases sensitively and effectively, and a review of the parole system on rape offenders.
Minimum life sentence for rape perpetrators, increased funding for shelters, counselling centres and legal aid to provide holistic support for victims of GBV," said Nqaba.
The demands will also include a call on the government to fast-track the deportation of undocumented foreign nationals.
"It is our resolve that we demand a just and safer South Africa where women and girls are protected, empowered, and free from violence, and therefore, we further call on the government for expeditious implementation of the immediate deportation of undocumented foreign nationals, state to empower local vendors and to integrate them into the mainstream economic sector. Stricter gun control measures and silencing of guns and immediate action on extortion and protection fees," she said.
Nqaba added that the march will also focus on protecting children from foodborne illnesses.
"The march to the seat of government is our collective commitment to defend our children from foodborne illnesses where the province of Gauteng alone this year has been plagued with almost 30 fatalities of children who consumed snacks and hawker food from unregulated spaza shops and vendors.
“We are concerned about the effect this has on female-headed households in our country, and we hope that the government will soon find solutions to this tragic occurrence," she said.
Eskom also came in for criticism from the ANCWL for implementing prepaid meter upgrades “without proper prior notice”.
"We cannot continue to fold our arms and be silent when Eskom threatens our communities with another form of load shedding due to technical inefficiency from its own scientific expertise," Nqaba said.
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