“The ingredients of Gender Based Violence are: erasure of a girl child and feeding the ego of a boy child.”
These were the assertions of UCT student affairs department Executive Director Pura Mgolombane during a webinar hosted by WSU’s Student Development & Support Services (SDSS) unit, under the theme: “Women’s social justice for non-violent & non-sexist WSU: Convergence of religion, Culture and Ubuntu.”
Mainly a pundit’s deliberations focused on varying factors that are features of, and contribute to GBV within the institution, including culture, religion and politics.
“Factors that contribute to GBV are instilled in us at a very young age. In many instances we teach our kids life as it should be and make it life as it is, and in that process we sacrifice the girl child at the altar of unearned privilege by men - we let them own women’s bodies and police them,” said Mgolombane.
He added: “When it comes to issues of GBV we need to be very honest about how we contribute to them as society because finding solutions requires exactly that.”
In her opening remarks, Mthatha Campus Rector, Professor Mashudu Davhana-Maselesele said: “Today we’re trying to understand what have we done that is so wrong as females that we get treated so unfairly by society. Are we still the same African society that is characterised by Ubuntu, because ‘Vhuthu ndimuthu ngabangwe’, meaning I am because you are?”
“When it comes to issues of GBV we have become a socially sick society, and for this sickness to be treated we must talk about it, and by this, eventually, I believe we can succeed.”
Recognizing the sheer enormity of the challenge faced by the student populous regarding the scourge of GBV, Mthatha SRC Premier, Litha Ngalonkulu, in his address, highlighted critical notions such as acceptance, tolerance and respect as key aspects that need remedying when it comes to GBV.
He said: “We meet at a very difficult time for us as students in the country, where there is a certain trend of butchering women and children, not excluding issues faced my males. I’d like to thank the university in its attempt to address the issues of GBV, for having a platform where these issues can be discussed in an effort to try and find solutions.”
The webinar was but one of a plethora of GBV programmes which kicked off in July earlier this year stemming from the vice-chancellor’s office aimed at squarely confronting one of the university’s most invasive and degenerative challenges.
Speaking on behalf of the initiative, Prof Michelle Karels in the Vice-Chancellor’s office, said: “The initiative finds its genesis in a suggestion by the VC to focus on how we as an institution of higher learning respond to GBV from a multi-disciplinary approach. We focus here on the GBV as a social ill which requires us to focus the lens of our joint endeavors on the phenomenon, its variables, its underlying discourses and what enables it to thrive in our communities.”
She added: “The vision is to drive social change and provide the research and social support necessary to encourage open debate, critical dialogue and ultimately drive the agenda in South Africa as an SDG and Africa 2063 goal to eradicate such forms of violence.”
- Ongezwa Sigodi