While the campaign of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children accentuates putting a stop to abuse against women and children, many people reckon that men are unjustly singled out. Since this annual campaign was launched all over the country a week ago (25 November), several serious new cases of GBV have been reported around the Vhembe region. Not all these cases, however, involved violence against women, but also of women lashing out against their men.
Early on the morning of Monday, 5 December, 32-year-old Mukondeleli Ramalira from Dzanani village was stabbed to death with a broken bottle, allegedly by his 58-year-old girlfriend, Dorcas Manganye. According to sources that spoke to this paper, they had been fighting over money.
The details surrounding the incident were not clear at the time of our going to press, but Manganye was arrested and charged with murder. Makhado Police Spokesperson Sergeant Tshifhiwa Radzilani confirmed the incident and said that the suspect had appeared in court on Tuesday (6 December). She will remain in custody until 13 December for profiling.
Sergeant Radzilani encouraged men who fall victim to GBV to also report such cases. "Men should not be ashamed to report and speak out against gender-based violence and abuse," she said.
Miss Mercy Raphalalani, a gender-based-violence activist, said that the 16 Days of Activism should not be one-sided. "When a woman is raped or killed by a man, women make a noise; they speak about it, scream justice, and shut down the entire country, but when a man is being abused or is killed by a woman, men keep quiet and wait for a woman to appear and speak for them. Women's voices will always be heard when they are abused or killed because they stand up for themselves. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about men and it is still unfortunate that women are not ready to fight against other women (whether they are wrong or not)," she said.