The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (CONTRALESA) has pledged its support for the efforts of Parliament and other stakeholders to fight gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide.
Parliament has collaborated with the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders (NHTL), the Department of Social Development, the South African National Aids Council and the Takuwani Riime Men’s Movement to establish the Men’s Parliament in an effort to tackle gender-based violence and end some cultural practices that prejudiced against women. This week the partners gathered at Masia Multipurpose Centre in the Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo to launch the third National Men’s Parliament.
Contralesa President Kgoshi Mathupa Mokoena said his organisation welcomed the joint initiative to fight GBV and also made a proposal that the Takuwani Riime Programme of Action be rolled out to the villages where traditional leaders were in charge. “We fully support the programme and we would also like to see it expand to our villages to spread the message against GBV and cultural practices that prejudiced women,” said Kgoshi Mokoena.
He also called on Parliament to review the effectiveness of legislation aimed at addressing crime. “When we passed some of the legislation in 1994, we were still angry and we took away the powers to deal with crime decisively. Now we are fine and can we go back to look at some of the legislation to see if they are really assisting us. Innocent women are killed every day. We need to review the laws to deal with crime,” said the Contralesa President.
The traditional leaders also proposed the need for the traditional initiation season to be formalised and institutionalised to prevent the participation of unscrupulous people which often results in the deaths of initiates. Contralesa General Secretary Mr Zolani Mkiva argued that the deaths are not due to negligence of traditional leaders but are rather because criminal elements have taken advantage of a gap that exists in the system.
Mr Mkiva, who is also a member of the National Council of Provinces, suggested that the practice must be officially recognised and budgeted for, and that the President must declare the initiation season every year. “We have lost more than 600 boys over the years; we need to stop it and the only way to stop it is to formalise and institutionalise traditional initiation. It should not only be about the operation of circumcision, but these should also be schools where young boys are taught about good behaviour, morals and anti GBV,” said Mr Mkiva.
The Chief Executive Officer of the South African National Aids Council, Dr Thembisile Xulu, delivered a message of support and commended the role played by traditional leaders in addressing issues such as HIV, TB, substance abuse as well as GBV and femicide.
The Takuwani Riime Programme of Action also received support from the World Health Organisation, Save the Children South Africa and the GBVF Response Fund, among others.
Sakhile Mokoena
21 November 2023
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