The Premier of the Northern Cape, Ms Sylvia Lucas, has noted with a grave sense of sadness the unfortunate and continuous loss of lives resulting from domestic quarrels, following the most recent spate last week. Domestic violence is particularly disturbing because the home and the family should be places where people can feel the most safe and secure.
The murder of a Douglas woman by her jealous lover, the brutal murder of a mother and her son with an axe, the senseless shooting of a Galeshewe woman by her boyfriend is a matter of grave concern and a painful reminder of the disregard for human life. These incidents not only culminate in severe grief, but result in broken homes and related trauma brought to bear on surviving family members.
The Premier believes that our families, schools and religious institutions can play a vital role in building the moral and ethical character of our society. Working together, we will be able to lay a firm foundation for a future society that respects human life and upholds high moral values, she emphasised.
The Premier has also instructed the Office on the status of Women, Children and People with Disabilities to help mobilise other stakeholders to drive a vigorous awareness campaign to advocate for a domestic violence-free environment. We need to do more in terms of gender education. We need to teach men not to treat women as objects of possession or their personal subjects
We firmly believe that CIVIL society and other stakeholder groups, must continue to intensify efforts to tackle the scourge of domestic violence, particularly as the attendant consequences affect children.
Those who feel trapped in situations of domestic abuse must endeavour to acquire the strength to access the services to empower them (selves) and to bring the perpetrators to face the law. It is the Premier’s fervent wish that, with the combination of the efforts of all, our society can be free of domestic abuse, thereby reducing the related societal ills which can pose challenges to the country’s continuous development.
Once again the Premier expresses her deepest condolences to those who suffered the loss of a loved one during the regrettable incidents of domestic violence.
Issued by the Office of the Premier
Spokesperson
Mafu Davids
0823166000