Attridgeville - Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane has called for the opening of courts during the weekends and after hours so that women can access court interdicts against their abusive partners.
Speaking at an event in Saulsville to kick off the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign, Mokonyane said the province will be working with the NGOs and Ministry for Women, Children and People with Disabilities to ensure that prosecutors and magistrates are on call during the weekends to assist abused women who need to apply for court interdicts.
"Why can't we have prosecutors and magistrates on call so that we don't wait until Monday to report and obtain court interdicts ... this can't be right," said Mokonyane.
Mokonyane further warned that the operation of taverns the whole night in the townships as well as selling of drugs and alcohol near schools' premises would come to an end as it promoted gender based violence.
"We are going to claim the night to show everyone that we have the right to walk on the streets, anytime, wearing what we like, without any fear of being raped," Mokonyane said.
On provincial intervention to help tackle the problem of domestic violence, Mokonyane said the province was currently training about 500 men on how to break the cycle of abuse.
"They've come forward and ask us to help them. We are also building centres to train abused women and give them skills to ensure that they don't return to their abusive partners as they rely on them financially.
"We also have 135 Victim Empowerment Programme centres to ensure that each police station have all the services under one roof to assist the victims. However, we also want to train the staff on how to treat and deal with women who come to the stations to report such cases," Mokonyane explained.
Minister for Women, Children and people with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwane, also supported Mokonyane's call for the opening of courts during the weekends. "We have to prioritise cases of women abuse."
She called on the communities to join government in the effort to eradicate the scourge of women abuse by coming forward and reporting such cases.
"We have a duty to stand in courts as witnesses to make sure that these abusers are prosecuted successfully.
"Murderers and rapists have no place in our community, let's work together with the police, prosecutors and courts to make sure that these criminals are arrested and convicted of crimes they commit against women and children ... let's use the laws available to create peace in our homes, in our community and in the world," Xingwana said.
She added that this evening women will be taking their streets back. "We will wear miniskirts and hot pants and see who will touch these young women."
The theme for this year's 16 Days of Activism is 'From Peace in the Home to peace in the World: Proliferation of Small Arms and their Role in Domestic Violence'.
