MAYOR COMFORTS THE BEREAVED FAMILY

MAYOR COMFORTS THE BEREAVED FAMILY

By Thulane Madalane

Ga-Phaahla: on Saturday  the community of Ga-Phaahla outside Jane Furse woke up  to the gruesome murder of a 37 year old Kagiso Ngwanangwato Mokiri, it is alleged that the victim was raped before she was killed  by the perpetrator (s), her lifeless body  was discovered by the community members on Saturday afternoon. Gender Based Violence  is a serious problem  in this country.  The prevalence of GBV in South Africa is such that close to 10,000 rapes occur every quarter. In 2019, 18% of 15 to 49 years old partnered women and girls had experienced physical or sexual violence in the past 12 months. The Mayor of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality Cllr Minah Bahula paid her respect to the  bereaving family following this inhuman behavior of heartlessness and she condemned this barbaric behavior and pleaded with law enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators to book and  bring justice to the family, “the police should help bring justice to the family by tracking down these criminals and bring them to book. Women and innocent children can’t leave in fear of terror because of the rapists and murderers camouflaged as community members.” She said

This comes at the time when the country is struggling with scourges of gender based violence (GBV). This type of violence  remains rampant in societies and forced President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa to declare it as a pandemic confronting women and children.More than two thirds of women (77%) in Limpopo have experienced some form of gender-based violence in their lifetime, including partner and nonpartner violence. About half of men, (48%) admit to perpetrating GBV at least once in their lifetime.Most of the violence occurs within intimate relationships and is predominantly emotional – a form not usually addressed. Thirty one percent of the women experienced emotional violence while more than a third of men (36%) perpetrated emotional Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) in their lifetime. Women experience and men perpetrate other forms of intimate violence including physical, sexual and economic violence. Almost a quarter of women (23%) and a quarter (25%) of men reported physical IPV experience and perpetration respectively. Thirteen percent of women and 14% of men reported economic IPV experience and perpetration respectively. Seven percent of women experienced and 12% of men perpetrated sexual IPV. One in every five women (21%) reported abuse during at least one of their pregnancies. In the majority of cases, women and men reported multiple incidents of physical or sexual IPV. Timeless News spoke to a Clinical Psychologist who asked to remain anonymous for professional reasons, about the common behavioral patterns of GBV victims before reporting their ordeal to the police ” before even thinking about reporting to the police, most victims have to overcome prevalent gender norms. Informal networks keep seeing domestic violence as a private matter and not as a crime, which discourages people to intervene and contributes to the normalization and persistence of women abuses. Quite often, mothers are playing a role in perpetuating traditional gender roles and acceptance of violence. If they could themselves endure worse, what is there to complain about?” She concluded