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10 December 2020 | Story Sibongile Madlala | Photo Supplied
Sibongile Mdlala End of Gender-based Violence
Sibongile Madlala believes it is time to get every single South African involved in the fight to eradicate gender-based violence and not to look away or to stand on the side-line watching.

Sibongile Madlala, Crime Investigations Officer in Protection Services, believes it is time to get every single South African – especially boys and men – involved in the fight to eradicate gender-based violence and not to look away or to stand on the side-line watching.


“It is a time to observe that to date, gender-based violence awareness messages still promote the idea that it only affects women and children (girls) and to a certain extent ignores the plight of the LGBTIQ community, men and boys,” she says.

Report, do not keep quiet

It is time for the government and other relevant stakeholders to do everything possible to establish the root causes of GBV. She feels it is necessary to pay attention to and address matters such as mental health (of the offender and the victim/survivor), victim-offender overlap, patriarchal lines, and cultural practices that perpetuate gender inequalities.

“Government also need to observe the value of training officers of the law and the justice department, as it takes a special kind of person to deal and assist victims accordingly,” she says. 
 

Madlala is convinced that the criminal justice system needs to revisit the laws, policies, and systems that are dealing with gender-based violence-related matters, as it is failing the victims. “It is unfair to expect a victim to recount every single intimate detail in chronological order; it is also unfair to expect a minor or a mentally challenged person to stand in a box facing the perpetrator as they lead evidence over a lengthened period. The failure to implement child-friendly facilities is not acceptable,” she adds. 

“It is said that knowledge is power, and
I believe the sooner this pandemic is understood
by the victims, perpetrators, and handlers
— the sooner we will see some changes in this regard.”
—Sibongile Madlala

Dealing with perpetrators

There is a National Sexual Offenders register in which the names of all prosecuted offenders are listed when they are found guilty. In dealing with perpetrators, she suggests a similar national offender register for gender-based violence offenders. “It is important that offenders are known, as those who need to protect are sometimes abusers themselves,” says Madlala.

The 16 days of activism is a time to let everybody know that gender-based violence is not a private matter. “It is said that knowledge is power, and I believe that the sooner this pandemic is understood by the victims, perpetrators, and handlers – the sooner we will see some changes in this regard.” 

She deems it important that victims are taught the importance of reporting and not protecting the abuser, and she emphasises the significance of ensuring that the voices of survivors, activists, and those mandated to address these matters at grassroots level are amplified and listened to.

Madlala sees this period as a celebration of survivors, the victors, heroes and heroines, young and old – especially those who have chosen to speak out about their traumatic experiences, knowing that the response may be negative.
 
“It is a time to commemorate all victims of gender-based violence and to raise awareness, stimulate advocacy efforts, and share knowledge on this topic,” she says.

It is time …

News Archive

German Ambassador speaks on universities as agents for transformation
2016-05-25

Description: German Ambassador speaks on universities  Tags: German Ambassador speaks on universities

Eva Ziegert, JC van der Merwe, Lindokuhle Ntuli, Anita Ohl-Meyer, Ambassador Walter Lindner, Tali Nates, and Prof Leon Wessels at the dialogue session hosted by the IRSJ
Photo: Johan Roux

“Change is facilitated through education, not by means of radicalism, violence, or revolution.” Speaking at the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) on Thursday 12 May 2016, the German Ambassador, Walter Lindner, urged students to engage in profitable dialogue instead, keeping their values and ideals in mind while changing the system from the inside.

The Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice (IRSJ) hosted a full day of dialogues and discussions, the highlight of which was a critical dialogue with Ambassador Lindner, entitled “Universities as agents of transformation in society—Germany’s experience with the student protests of the 1968 movement and the difficulties it has reconciling with its past.” This was followed by a student colloquium, hosted by the Student Representative Council, which concluded with the second in the Africa’s Many Liberations seminar series, co-hosted by the IRSJ and the International Studies Group (ISG), with the title of “Fanon and the relevance of personal and collective decolonisation in today’s South Africa”.

Mr Lindner related his experience of student protests in Germany during the late 1960s, drawing certain parallels with South Africa’s own recent protests. According to Ambassador Lindner, it is “the impatient youth that drives forward change”, but cautioned against radicalism as a long-term solution.

Pointing out the various challenges facing humankind today, such as the lack of natural resources, unbridled climate change, and population growth, Mr Lindner stated that politicians (and the youth of today) would do well to focus on these greater issues, rather than focusing on the more mundane issues with which they are faced on a day-to-day basis.

The subsequent dialogue session was facilitated by Tali Nates, Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. A diverse array of questions and comments, both radical and more conservative, was directed at the ambassador, which he handled with unflappable aplomb.

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