With 16 days of activism in full swing, several organisations from Hanover Park held a peaceful march on Monday to highlight crimes against women and children as well as the ongoing gang violence in the area.
The group gathered in Hanover Park Avenue as this was considered a red zone.
Avril Andrews, an activist from the Moms Move for Justice, Peace and Reconciliation says at the moment no one is safe in Hanover Park.
“This whole community is traumatised,” she explains.
“Gender-based violence is so high, the femicide is so high. You get people that’s fearful to speak out, we sit with young people who are too scared to speak up.”
Avril says the reason for the march was to get the community and organisations like hers to work together.
“We have to keep hope alive, and that is why we call on a lot of organisations to come onboard and put our differences aside.
“We need more from authorities, we need more assistance,” she adds.
Delcarmi Domingos, an outreach worker from the First Community Resource Centre, says marches like this one are important to raise community awareness.
“Fifteen years ago, I was a victim in this community and I didn’t know who to reach out to for help and support.
“Now I feel the need to give back to the community, because our organisation needs to have more exposure to the areas where there is help,” she explains.
Ashraf Alie, chairperson of the Hanover Park cricket club, says GBV is a pandemic “just like Covid-19” and should be treated as such.
“We have a women’s team and in that team I know of abuses; we also have a girls’ team and I know those girls aren’t getting the assistance that they deserve.
“So what’s the vaccination for GBV? It’s time that people should go to the street, that would be our vaccine to eradicate this.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za