Hand Foundation and youth and community member march against GBV in Mamelodi east photo by Dimakatso Modipa
Members of Helping Hand Foundation delivered a memorandum of grievances at the Mamelodi East police station on Thursday calling for among others speedy response by the police when dealing with Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases.
The march started at the Balebogeng Primary School before the protesters marched up to the Mamelodi East police station in Extension 4, Mamelodi East.
The memorandum was received by Colonel Moses Mokwana of the Visible Policing unit.
The foundation’s manager Ntombifuthi Gwala told Colonel Gwala that they came to deliver the memorandum because as a foundation they demand change and increased support from the police regarding GBV.
“We have a lot of issues with GBV and we demand more support to GBV survivors and families who have lost their loved ones due to GBV,” said Gwala.
“We expect the police to work immediately when people come to report GBV cases at the Mamelodi East police station and we expect the police to immediately attend to calls from the community regarding GBV,” she said.
Gwala said there is an outcry in the community from people who say the police are not doing their job regarding GBV cases.
In response Colonel Mokwana said GBV is taken seriously at the Mamelodi East police station.
“I admit that in Mamelodi East gender based violence and contact crimes are a very big problem, hence we have gender based violence gates which can be used by victims,” said Colonel Mokwana.
“In most cases of GBV, suspects are known to their victims and they get arrested and denied bail,” he said.
He said the police always make sure that protection orders are served on perpetrators of GBV as soon as possible and that they work closely with courts of law that specialize in GBV.
He said the police are committed and will attend to the memorandum and try their best to exceed expectations in meeting the demands stated therein.
“We are expecting you to work closely with the station’s social crime prevention officer to embark on more awareness campaigns at institutions like Mams Radio, and we therefore urge you not to work alone, and we also have a victim empowerment office that operates 24 hours at the police station,”said Mokwana.
He appreciated the fact that though the number of the marchers wasn’t big, they nevertheless managed to achieve what they had set our to do; namely to deliver the memorandum to the police station.
Mokwana also expressed satisfaction that the march was completed without any incidents.
Speaking to Tshwane Talks after delivering the memorandum, Gwala said they decided to march to the police station and deliver the memorandum because there have been numerous complaints regarding GBV in the community but the victims are afraid to come out in the open about their plight, so as Helping Hand Foundation they have taken it upon themselves to help victims come to the police station to demand that action be taken against incidents of GBV.
“We have given the Mamelodi East police station seven days to respond to respond to our demand and failure to do so will result in us coming back to the police station to remind them about our grievances,”she said.
She said they would be working together with the South African Police Services to end GBV and would therefore be taking part in various programmes that have been arranged by the police in the fight against GBV.
Gwala appealed to GBV survivors to either go to the police station or approach Helping Hand Foundation regarding their plight.
She said Helping Hand Foundation is a student-led organisation that fights against inequality and works with those going through poverty.
Helping Hand Foundation can be found on Instagram as Community Support 012, as well as on Facebook as Helping Hand Foundation.