PRETORIA - Gauteng MEC for Community Safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane on Monday bemoaned the withdrawal of gender-based violence cases by women in South Africa, saying such actions undermine the work of law enforcement agencies.
The MEC was hosting a dialogue on the impact of gender-based violence with hundreds of young women and other stakeholders including #NotInMyName activists and law enforcement in the province.
"Our law enforcement agencies are hard at work to ensure the perpetrators of violence against women are brought to book and dealt with accordingly. In the process of dealing with the perpetrators, our law enforcement agencies are compromised because some women are not resolute," Nkosi-Malobane said in Pretoria.
"On the one hand, they [some women] raise alarm for law to take its course, on the other, [some women] succumb to manipulation and beg the law enforcement officers to withdraw the charges. These are some of the challenges we need to address as a society in general."
She applauded resolute women, singling out Bongekile Simelane known as “Babes Wodumo” who "amid the numerous attempts to be manipulated by their abusive partners and husbands stand ground and soldier on to ensure the perpetrators receive the full might of the law".
Simelane earlier this month broke her silence over her assault allegedly at the hands of her partner and fellow musician Mandla Maphumulo, known as Mampintsha.
Nkosi-Malobane said her department adopted a 365-days integrated plan of action to eliminate violence against women and children.
"Men are not licensed by culture to act violently against the vulnerable in society, our children, nor are they authorized by tradition to behave brutally against women. On the contrary, culture dictates that real men must be protectors and providers of families. Positive tradition replicates good practices in society," she said.
"I call upon men to hold a mirror to their faces and see the true reflection of who they are, whether they are providers and protectors of families or tormentors of their own flesh and blood. Whatever image they see in the mirror, tradition will transmit throughout the generations. The mirror of the African culture that I know is that of a loving people, a people sensitive to other’s weakness, and recognizes and respects one another’s strengths."