In trying to raise awareness about violence towards women and children during this 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign, young children, led by Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum, staged a silent march on Monday 5 December.
The children, who mostly hail from Lwandle and Greenfields, were armed with placards, embedded with different messages such as “No to GBV” and “Stop the violence”.
They walked from the museum to the Lwandle Police Station to make their voices heard.
On the day, children were also encouraged to speak out against any form of violence or abuse in their communities.
The museum worked with HOPE, SAFE and Community Policing Forum (CPF) to put the event together.
Zimkhitha Ngaleka, the event organiser, said annually they make efforts to highlight the issue of gender-based violence GBV) and will organise different activities until the end of the 16 days campaign. “On the first day, we had 74 children, mostly boys. We were happy to have so many children and in most cases, these boys don’t really take note of the violence that is taking place in their community. Sometimes they may be victims too from their coaches and keep quiet about it,” she said.
“So, we informed them about the importance of reporting such cases and not keeping quiet. When their coaches are aggressive or even slap them they should report it. It is wrong,” said Ngaleka.