In his inauguration speech as South Africa’s first democratically elected President, Nelson Mandela urged all of us to act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. He expressed in his eloquent and moving words: “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”.
Today, as we reflect on this legacy of the father of our nation, it is important to highlight that the struggle to end gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) is far from won and the damage being done to society, economies and communities is growing more severe by the day.
GBVF is unravelling the hopes and dreams we had as a nation when Mandela first walked free and set us on a path to freedom.
We need to invoke the same brave spirit of overcoming oppression today to ensure we can leave behind a society we can be proud of, and in which our children can be free, happy and not scared. This society should live up to the vision and expectations Mandela had for our beautiful land 28 years ago.
With the National Strategic Plan on GBVF of 2020 as our guiding light, the GBVF Response Fund was established as an independent, private sector-led entity aimed at galvanising a broader societal response to make a high impact on ending the scourge of GBVF as soon as humanly possible.
We are on track to help drive a much-needed coordinated response to this national pandemic. In our first grant funding phase, we have managed to support 110 high-impact community-based and four intermediary organisations in the fight against GBVF.
The different kinds of programmes and initiatives implemented by the approved grant partners will positively impact women, children, the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as other vulnerable groups.
The reason for adopting a multisectoral approach, and opting to work closely with sponsors, government and civil society is to bring about meaningful, sustainable and broad-based change.
We need all of South Africa’s people to have a greater awareness of the extent of the problem and help, as this cannot be done in isolation. Changing behaviours, long-held beliefs and stereotypes requires ongoing work on the ground, in the right areas, by those with skills to bring about true, lasting change.
This is not just a national problem either. The United Nations has called violence against women a “shadow pandemic”. It says one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual violence, mostly by an intimate partner. Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation, and before the pandemic 243 million women and girls, aged 15-49 experienced sexual and/or physical violence by an intimate partner in the past year. Since the pandemic, violence against women, especially domestic violence, intensified.
The time to end GBVF, in the country, is now. So, let’s come together as one to meet these expectations of Mandela and let freedom and human rights reign in a manner that would make him proud.
– Lindi Dlamini, chief executive officer of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Response Fund
