Chairperson, hon Minister and hon members, as the ANC we have been in the lead of campaigns against all kinds of abuse and oppression. Therefore, today is one of those days when we as leaders and as representatives of our people should come together and take stock of what impact our campaign of no violence against women and children really has had.
It is so painful to witness our neighbours, children, mothers, sisters, nieces, cousins, etc being violently abused or killed by their partners, brothers, fathers, nephews or cousins. For instance, a small boy has just been killed by his father in Mitchells Plain.
It is once more time for us as men and women to stand up and speak out, as the theme is "Don't look away, act against abuse". We must emphasise that breaking the silence is not a disgrace, and women and children must speak out against abuse. More and more women and children are breaking the silence by openly and publicly talking about their experiences of violation.
Violence against women must be fought at many levels. The unequal power relationship between men and women, in society and at home, lies at the heart of this violence. Therefore, it is necessary to challenge social attitudes so that the rights and needs of women with regard to equality, freedom and security of person, and with regard to other freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights, can be asserted and defended.
Sihlalo, kubuhlungu nawutsi ulalela emacala etinkantolo uve kutsi indvodza itsetse ematfumbu ayo yawabuyisela esiswini. Kubuhlungu futsi kutsi ubone indvodza ihlanta emahlanta iphindze iwadle. Lesi sento lesibuhlungu kakhulu. (Translation of Siswati paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, it is painful when you listen to cases in court and hear that a man has raped his own children. It is also painful to hear that the man has committed the same offence after being released from prison.]
We also need, as members of this House and of our communities, to visit the courts and police stations and check on the impact of the laws and charters that we are talking about here, as well as the conventions that we have passed and the implementation thereof. What are the obstacles which we have to amend? If identified, when and how are we going to make such amendments?
The 16 Days of Activism is a high-profile, annual event for the determined effort of many South Africans. The challenge we face is to build a society in which this campaign can become unnecessary sooner rather than later. We can do that by making sure that the laws that we have passed as government are correctly implemented and that where we need to amend them, we do so as a matter of urgency.
The 16 Days of Activism is an awareness campaign that actually doesn't mean that we only have to observe this monster called violence against women and children during the 16 days only. The South African government, led by the ANC, declared a campaign of 365 days of no violence against women and children. Hence I feel strongly that this is the time for taking stock of the impact made on the implementation of our laws. We now focus primarily on generating an increased awareness of the negative impact of violence on women and children at a grass-roots level and on society as a whole. During this time, as my colleagues have said, we must all wear the white ribbon to support the victims of violence and abuse and to symbolise our solidarity with these women and children. As this is not the first awareness campaign of its kind, employers and employees in the private sector and government are gearing themselves to start distributing those white ribbons with ceramic beads from women empowerment groups. I urge you to support them also by buying them in bulk for your organisations.
We commend the work of the many NGOs and community-based organisations that struggle on a daily basis to respond to the needs of those who experience such violence and that campaign tirelessly to prevent abuse against women and children.
We call on both government and the private sector to find ways to give resources to these organisations and improve their capacity to undertake this important work.
Chairperson, as recently as 2004, President Jacob Zuma, in his capacity as Deputy President of the country at the time, said that we must not just address the symptoms and manifestations of abuse but also the underlying value system of male dominance that sustains the abuse.
Those religious, traditional and social values that regard men as superior to women and women as perpetual minors must be exposed as immoral, with no space in our constitutional dispensation. And in our vision of a moral society, I must admit, to my distress, those words are unfortunately still valid today. In conclusion, the Book of Ephesians, in chapter 6, speaks of family love and tells fathers to love their kids and not to make them angry or abuse them. Chapter 5 of the same Book tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved all of us. And if we lived according to the Word of God, much abuse would be eliminated.
I am also, Chairperson and hon members, calling on all of you to join the ANC Women's League, as we do have events and a programme of action. I hope this is also so in other organisations and other parties, as the hon van Lingen said that we must do this together.
We must share the events and visit each other and share ideas of how all of us can together do away with violence against women and children. Chairperson, I thank you very much. Malibongwe! [Praise!] [Applause.]