Vandag is die einde van Vrouemaand wat gevier is met die tema: geslagsgelykheid, vroueregte en ’n gelyke toekoms. Die Wetstoepassing se Dames-parade het by die weegbrug op N12 plaasgevind, gevolg deur die oorhandiging van sanitêre produkte by die intermediêre skool Aalwyn op Campbell.
Lees die volledige persverklaring hier:
Women of the South African Police Service, South African National Defense Force, Correctional Services and from the Community Police Board…
Today marks the end of Women’s Month that we celebrated under the theme: I am Generation Equality, Realizing Women’s Rights for an Equal Future.
The theme sends out a call to action into each and every space of society – including workplaces and places of worship and learning, to actively promote the rights of women and the right of women to assert themselves as productive citizens of this country. Women, just as men, contribute to the general well-being of our economy and our communities. We need to acknowledge this.
Working in Law Enforcement, as women, we may find ourselves in an environment that remained, until recently, closed to the equitable and merited promotion of women in spaces of power.
We may find ourselves having to navigate a system of command and operations that are characteristically patriarchal and oppressive to true equality and the affirmation of the efforts of women.
To all our female colleagues in this space, we extend an honoured ‘Happy Women’s Month’. We want to say we see you and your efforts. We want to commend you for your work and we, as the Northern Cape Provincial Government, acknowledge the role you play in reaching community safety goals.
Just so, in the enforcement of our Constitutional Mandate, we need to improve the operationalization of safety, enforcement and support services with regards to violence against women and children.
At this time, it is challenging to assert that we are doing enough to promote safer environments for women in our homes. Most of the violence that occur against women and children happen in homes and are perpetrated by partners, members of the family or those known to the victim.
We need to find ways to penetrate the walls of patriarchy that prevent these homes from receiving protection services for women. We cannot be saying that policing the safety of women in homes is difficult. It is necessary and our duty. It may be a broader social ill, but the effects of intimate partner violence and rape is real in the cases that are reported.
We also need to promote improved dignity and care in how we receive, process and resolve cases of violence perpetrated against women and children. I have just recently received an account of the dismal and undignified treatment of a Transgender woman who came to the police after being assaulted.
We have certain basic policies and process guides in place to ensure we receive and attend to cases of violence against women and children. We need to follow them. Our Victim Friendly facilities cannot be white elephants that are created for compliance sake. They need to be activated and, now, during the time of COVID-19, be equipped with masks and sanitizer to protect victims of violence against the virus even within our walls.
So, as we step out today, let us remember that just as we need to care for and protect women in communities, we need to care for and protect our own. I am exceptionally proud of the work we are doing and, because of this, I am convinced that, if we put our hearts and our full commitment into it, work with our stakeholders and communities, we have the power to bring about transformative change in how we create equal and safe spaces for women in workplaces and communities across the province.
