Cape Town - To mark the end of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, the Embo Initiation forum, supported by community organisations in Langa, held a peaceful march followed by a dialogue on instilling masculine values in young boys and producing better men.
Embo Initiation is an open forum for men in Langa taking pride in matters of culture and tradition, particularly the preservation and protection of the initiation tradition.
Mododa Mlambo from Embo Initiation saidit was essential men took the responsibility of teaching boys to be responsible citizens.
“We have a responsibility as the custodians of the initiation tradition to ensure the boys in whom we instil manhood become men we will be proud of as the community, men who will value women and children and not see them as objects to be raped and killed.
"Essentially, gender-based violence will be one of the topics we will cover when engaging the initiates,” he said.
Siyabonga Khusela from LangaForMen said more education was needed to spread sexual education to young and grown men and to conscientise more males, especially young boys, about gender violence and its implications from a tender age.
“We are all cognisant that the majority of women are suffering and in pain because of men. This we have not done or conducted through thorough research yet, no matter how through our observations and hypotheses, men are the dominating population that execute gender-based violence,” Khusela said.
Pastor Xolani Baartman said: “We should teach young boys that manhood is not only about going to the mountain for circumcision, but also about one’s positive contributions in the homestead and the community.
"Manhood should be instilled in young boys from a very young age, so they grow up knowing that their responsibility is to protect and not to abuse women and children.”
Zizi Socathana from Langa Saps said it was important women broke their silence. He said it was because of this silence that women and children abuse was so widespread.
@Mtuzeli