Botha-Bothe, Mar. 08 — Botha-Bothe women in the security sector today marched against the killing of women in celebration of international women’s day.
Marching around the streets of Botha-Bothe with placards written messages that men should stop killing women, the women matched to show their dissatisfaction with the alarming rates of women who are killed by their loved ones.
International Women’s Day is said to be a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8 as a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, and violence and abuse against women.
With today’s theme being Digital, Innovation and technology for gender equality, Botha- Bothe women chose to celebrate under the theme ’Gender-based violence and femicide’ as they looked into the growing numbers of women killed by their partners in Botha-Bothe.
Addressing the women after the march, Principal District Gender Officer, Ms. Ntaoleng Mafisa said the fight against women’s rights comes afar and today women celebrate domestic fear because nowadays women are able to go out, look for jobs, get promotions, be leaders in all spheres of life because some women took it upon themselves to fight for the rights of women.
She said women in the district are concerned over the rate at which women get killed by people who are supposed to protect them. She said it is high time that women start introspecting to find solutions to the problem.
On the other hand, Botha-Bothe District Commissioner of Police, and Senior Superintendent Mpolokeng Shale showed that they are concerned as security sectors at the ever-increasing femicides numbers. She said her observation is that most women get into relationships for material things and money and end up not even being aware that they are being abused in the relationships they are in.
“Because they choose to ignore abuse at the early stage, by the time they decide that they want to get out of the relationships men kill them because they then realise that the woman was there only for material things not necessarily because of love.
“I would like to remind you all that you are capable of improving and elevating the lifestyle that you want. Stop relying on men to give you the lifestyle that you want because it will not be easy to get out of such a relationship if you got in it for the wrong reasons. Let us take care of ourselves and love ourselves first before loving other people,” she said.
District Administrator, Mr. Tšepa Chaba reminded the women that they are beautiful, strong, and loving but the underlying problem that women show is their support for each other. He said women should start supporting each other so that they can be able to fight being abused.
He said women should make noise on important issues that affect them and they should hold each other’s hand when one is being abused so as to instill fear in the abuser. He added that the alarming rates of divorces are also brought about by the fact that women enter into marriages even when they are not ready.
