‘Tradition used as excuse to abuse women’

President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the abuse of women by men who hide behind culture and tradition.

He was speaking at the Free State provincial men’s indaba as part of the 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children campaign on Thursday.

Speaking to more than 5,000 people at Lemo Green Park, Ramaphosa said violence against women and children had reached unacceptable levels. He added that perpetrators committed these crimes in the name of customs.

“Some men, in the name of tradition, commit these crimes. Some men, in the name of masculinity, commit these crimes. We can talk the whole day, but the truth is that I do not respect women and view them as objects. Women are the most valuable assets of our country and must be treated with dignity,” Ramaphosa said.

He said that for GBV and femicide to end, all citizens must play an active role in rooting out the scourge from society.

“The abuse of women and children impugns our dignity as men. Men must stop being on the sidelines and being spectators. Crime festers in a culture of silence and the results are that women are becoming terrified,” he said.

“South Africa has a crisis of broken families where the vast majority of children do not live with their biological fathers. Boys lack father figures. Premier (Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae), you have initiated something really good, and hopefully it will spread across the country,” he said.

Free State premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae said the province has had its fair share of incidents of GBV and femicide, which sparked the idea to hold an indaba.

“We were recently alerted about the killings of Katleho and Onkarabetse Leeuw, who were cousins and were found killed days apart. Their parents have been arrested as a result of what appears to be a case motivated by vengeance. In QwaQwa, a woman survived after clinging to a tree branch after being raped and thrown into a raging river. These are some of the challenges we are faced with,” Letsoha-Mathae said.

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