The Democratic Alliance Women’s Network (DAWN) in Limpopo will launch an online petition in commemoration of Women’s Day and Women’s Month. The petition will also be rolled out in numerous towns across the province and seeks to highlight the many challenges women face and the growing incidents of violence against women and children in Limpopo.

Women’s Day commemorates the women of all races and backgrounds coming together to fight the injustices and challenges they faced in 1956. Today women are still faced with shockingly high statistics of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Limpopo. The 2019/2020 crime statistics revealed that the province recorded 8 519 cases of crimes against women and 2 807 crimes against children. These large number of cases takes into consideration, serious crimes such as murder, sexual offences, attempted murder, assault GBH and common assault.

The province is currently losing the battle on violence against children and women. The recent crime statistics for Limpopo paint a bleak picture and show that 3 436 cases of rape and 3 990 sexual offences were reported. This high number means that almost 10 rapes are reported per day in the province despite rape being one of the most under-reported crimes.

According to the crime stats, Limpopo had two police stations namely Thohoyandou and Seshego which ranked in the top 30 stations nationwide for sexual offences, with Thohoyandou ranked 6th and Seshego ranked 26th. Limpopo also has three police stations in the country’s top 30 stations for rape offences, Thohoyandou is ranked 5th (225 cases), Giyani ranked 24th (154 cases) and Mankweng 30th (149 cases). The high number of sexual offences in Limpopo is also worrying considering the shortage of rape kits and the lack of sensitivity and training in the police service to deal with victims of sexual crimes.

The fact that there are only 73 Victim Empowerment Centres in the province shows a lack of support and political will to seriously address GBV. The problem is further compounded by the fact that these centres have experienced a 50% cut in funding for the current financial year by the Limpopo Department of Social Development.

DAWN is committed to ensuring that the petition is submitted to Provincial and National Government to ensure they address the current culture of abuse towards women and children, and more importantly to start addressing the toxic masculinity that is deeply entrenched in our society that has gone unaddressed for far too long.

Submitted by Desiree Van der Walt DA MP - DAWN Limpopo Chairperson