Executive Mayor Alderman Dan Plato has allocated R2 million to set up teams in Cape Town’s vulnerable communities. Mayor Plato made the announcement today during the launch event for 16 Days of Activism at Athlone Stadium.
The 16 Days of Activism For No Violence Against Women and Children is a period of reflection and a call to action.
Today we are taking proactive steps to fight the scourge of violence against our women and children.
The past year’s crime statistics show that sexual assault went up by nearly 3% and contact sexual offences increased drastically by 19% when compared to the previous year. Common assault and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm have both increased nearly 2% and 4% respectively. It is clear that urgent proactive interventions are needed.
Too often we see stories of men harming those whom they should protect and support. We must cherish our wives, mothers, sisters and friends. We must change the behaviour of men so that the cycle of abuse comes to an end.
The task team, to be launched in January, will be made up of a mix of professionals, experts in social development and local religious organisations and community members and will work with the city’s social development department and community structures.
The scope of the work to be done will be determined according to the community dynamics and is expected to include a series of workshops and other interventions. The task team will have to submit reports and the progress of the project will be monitored by the Mayor’s office to assess its effectiveness.
More details on the task team will be announced when the task team becomes operational at the end of January 2020.
During this awareness period, there will also be various activities and drives in community halls in Athlone, Langa, Delft, Wallacedene, Valhalla Park, Table View and others. More information about this will be available on the city’s website.
As a caring city, throughout the year we offer a list of programmes and interventions to assist our communities at risk.
- The Women for Change Programme is an intervention programme aimed at vulnerable women in general and women in rental stock in particular. The programme seeks to enable women to play a more active role in their local communities while developing learning skills.
- The Men and Masculinities is a programme aimed at both young and adult men and will be implemented city-wide. The aim of the programme is to reflect on socialisation to reduce levels of violence in communities and improve relations between men and women. The pilot was implemented in Delft and will now be rolled out to the 4 Areas in the City.
- The City of Cape Town’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and Wellness Team hosted a talk to encourage all men to seek help to maintain their physical and mental health.
I am calling on the public to make use of our services so that we can put a stop to gender-based violence in our communities.