16/01/2025
Church Bells Ring Hope in GBVF fight but will Gayton Respond to the cries of SA Women?
By S**i Dlanga
There is a saying on social media that femicide reports have increased since the Chris Brown concert. You will find this comment repeatedly under any recent post about the latest woman who has been murdered by her boyfriend. In one incident, the woman had been living with her boyfriend for just 2 days before he ended her life. His su***de note apparently states that this was not his first time. Two nurses were r***d at Chuene Clinic in Limpopo during a robbery. R***d and robbed. Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga appeared overwhelmed as eNCA Francis Herd wanted to know what her department was doing as GBVF was worsening. The long name of that ministry alone suggests the unseriousness with which this country takes women’s issues.
Since 2022, the calls on South Africans to unite in stillness every 12 December at precisely 12 O’clock for 1 minute. We call churches, citizens, activists, organisations and businesses to observe a silent minute as an alert to hold government accountable to fulfil its obligations towards ending GBVF. I have led the campaign since women leaders in the South African Women In Dialogue challenged me to action an idea I had put forward in the group. The idea was born out of being exasperated with empty political speeches that promise to end GBVF while cases continue to explode. A few women from SAWID joined and together we called it the 121212AccountabilityInitiative since we observe the minute of silence at 12 midday every 12th of December.
The ringing of church bells has been the most effective component of the campaign since the SACC participated from 2022. Church bells have rung from Mdantsane in the Eastern Cape, Gqeberha to the Western Cape as far as Botrivier to Mitchells Plain and greater Cape Town, Northern Cape in Springbok to Bloemfontein, Gauteng and Limpopo. The Holy Cross Anglican Church in Mdantsane ended their minute of silence with the singing of Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika as a prayer. The Catholics joined as well as the Moravians and the Dutch Reformed Church throughout the Western Cape. In Springbok, NC, their silent minute was held in a health facility. They ended their silent minute in Afrikaans prayers and with the singing of Thula Sizwe. Indiana, USA joined, so did Rev. Tamika Jancewicz who rang her church bell in Maryland, USA in solidarity. I visited Grabouw at St Michaels and All Angels church this time which turned out to be the most strategic position to get the bells ringing throughout the Western Cape.
I was struck by a compelling comment I read on the Anglican Youth of South Africa Facebook post. Encouraging other churches and reverends to participate, Rev. Theo Nyanda Ka-Khanyile wrote: “Don’t look away, ring the bell.”
What gave me the most hope was that the ringing of the church bells is largely male led because priests are largely male though congregants are largely female. They owned the campaign. They do not know me. I do not know them. But they know the crises we face. This is where the victory lies, I believe. Men must respond to the cries of women and children. This is not a competition between genders. This is about healing our society so that we all function in harmony - together.
Remember Reeva Steenkamp? Almost 10 years ago now, I commemorated that tragic Valentines Day in an article titled : A South African Crisis to remember Reeva whose life was cut short by Oscar Pistorius’ bullet. I recounted a childhood memory. We had decided to mimic the weeping of adults during mourning as a play. In a flash, armed Transkei village men carrying sticks arrived. Ready to save. They were incensed to discover mere children at play. That game was never repeated but the agency of those men and their instinct to protect left a lasting impression on me. I felt that a sound aught to ring across the land each time a woman is r***d or murdered by her partner in our land. We must not get used to this. Currently, every 6 hours, a woman is murdered by her partner.
What is so broken in the men of South Africa that their instinct is so corrupted from its original design? Instead of protecting they champion abusers. If you scroll through GBVF social media responses, you will be stunned by the number of men who sympathise with murderers. One man explicitly blamed women for causing their own murders and there were men who agreed with him.
There was an uproar in 2022 when Lindiwe Sisulu presented the ANCWL policy that proposed chemical castration for rapists. There has been radio silence about this since then. The Daily Dispatch headline on 19 December 2024 was “Sex-for-jobs rot runs much deeper.” It details a report where Anele Mda indicates that several Eastern Cape Departments are implicated, including the Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s office. Who is to say that the EC government s*x rot is not found nationally? The Finance Minister and the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs made news in recent years with concerning allegations involving young women. The allegations were rubbished and vanished into thin air. Can we honestly curb GBVF if those in power are untouchable? The president silently stood by his men. Once again, the national consciousness recorded that women are not protected, they are only promised.
Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie added to this national consciousness that does not go out of its way to protect women with his tone-deaf Chris Brown concert tickets giveaway. Women for Change had meticulously advocated for SA to ban Chris Brown as a display of the country’s strong stance against GBVF. The Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture could have made different choices. One choice was to stay out of the media about it if he preferred to go ahead with it. The next choice was to engage GBVF activists on a way forward even if he was going to continue with the concert. He chose to ignore the pain of women, girls and children in this country and sided with the side that likely includes violators of women. Reversing all the recent work of the 16 days against gender-based violence. Now, social media users use that concert as a new marker for the increase of GBVF. Giving away tickets acted as a campaign to stand with everyone who takes violence against women lightly.
Minister Mckenzie, easily the most popular minister and a symbol of hope in many South African homes because of the testimony of his life. The Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture promotes the aspirations of our nation. Concerts and World Cups are pointless if homes are warzones. We must be the best in our homes, so that when we are the best in the world, it will be the truth, not a coverup of our most intimate failures. How long can we lift up glorious cups while we are ashamed of the men who butcher, abuse and r**e? McKenzie once aspired to be the Minister of Police. He might not be responsible for locking up prisoners but arts influence behaviour. It is admirable that the minister supports Afghanistan women but GBVF in SA must not be dismissed. I hope that the minister will invite GBVF activist to see how his ministry can be a powerful change agent to end GBVF and foster social cohesion.
This is not just about Minster Mckenzie. It is not just on the shoulders of Minister Chikunga. It is in the interest of every South African citizen to hold government accountable. It is in the interest of every church, community, university, department or business to help the nation end GBVF. This cannot be our culture. Diarise the 12th of December to unite for one minute to end GBVF. We have no choice but to overcome this together or else the nation has no future. There is no new life if we keep burying young women.
S**i Dlanga is a poet, social justice activist and has been a political commentator for over a decade.
