To keep the spirit of slain University of Cape Town (UCT) student Uyinene Mrwetyana alive, her foundation held a gender-based violence (GBV) awareness event on Friday 28 October.
The event was held at Samora Machel Primary School as part of the Uyinene Mrwetyana Foundation’s national campaign to commemorate her life.
Mrwetyana was raped and killed at Clareinch Post Office in August 2019. Her body was discovered a few days later, dumped at Lingelethu-West, Khayelitsha. Her killer, Luyanda Botha, was sentenced to three life sentences by the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court after admitting to the rape and murder of the 19-year-old.
Langaliphumile Nyanda, the foundation’s Youth Development Advisory Board member, stated that they saw a need to conduct GBV talks with primary school learners. The aim is to encourage the learners to speak out when there is a need.
“There are a lot of things that are happening at schools that can lead learners to drop out, commit suicide, or even not perform well in their studies. Those things include bullying, body shaming, etc. We want the learners to report everything that they don’t like to their teachers,” he said.
Nyanda stated that they aim to build a formidable relationship between learners and teachers.
“Some of the learners are coming from dysfunctional families, they can’t talk to their parents. Now we want to create a friendly zone at school where the learner can open up to the teacher. Also, we want to empower the teachers so they can be able to talk to them,” he said.
Nyanda said they are also targeting boys to change their perception of girls.
The school deputy principal Lumka Olai described GBV as a pandemic that required treatment. She urged women to stop normalising GBV.
“I’m also a GBV survivor. I was once called names, assaulted and swore at. And most of the women when we grew up normalised GBV. We thought if someone beat you up it meant he loved you. Even when a child was sexually abused by an uncle or other family member, we would say let’s resolve it as a family instead of reporting it to the police,” said Olai.
She urged the boys to stop bullying the girls. She stated that Mrwetyana’s death caused a nationwide outcry.
“After the news of Uyinene’s death broke out, the country witnessed large protest actions. Her spirit did not rest. She haunted the culprit till he came forward. We are tired of men who are killing women. We need to stand up and say no to GBV,” said Olai.
Grade 6 learner Ngcani Tyatya (12) urged his peers to stop harassing girls. He stated that everyone has a right to live the life of her or his choice.
