Poor attendance forced organisers of a Men’s Imbizo on Saturday 15 October to call off the event without any meaningful discussion.
The imbizo was held at New Eisleben High School, but due to poor turn out organisers and various stakeholders present agreed to postpone the gathering to another date. The meeting was meant to shine the spotlight on pertinent issues affecting men including substance abuse, gender-based violence, and domestic violence among others.
Dumisani Qwebe, event organiser and secretary of the Nyanga Community Policing Forum, assured the media that they will organise another event next month.
He said it would be pointless to continue with the gathering without the public. He said the aim was to give men a platform to share their problems and experiences without the fear of being judged by women.
“What we realised here is that the leaders came alone and left the community members behind. It is only leaders who are here. So, we appealed to the community leaders to mobilise men from their communities to come to our next Imbizo,” he said.
Nyanga police station acting commander Col Siphiwo Sithonga highlighted the GBV as one of their major problems.
However, he stated that officers are working with various stakeholders to fight GBV and crime. He praised men for having the guts to come out and report their partners to the police station when abused.
“GBV affects both genders. We have various desks in the station that are dealing with various things. Also, men have their desk where they speak freely about their challenges,” said Sithonga.