Women are not our pets: Police Minister Bheki Cele talks tough at GBV imbizo

Minister Bheki Cele calls on men to end the fight against GBV.

Minister Bheki Cele calls on men to join the fight against GBV.

Durban – Police Minister Bheki Cele has called on men to end the scourge of gender-based violence in the country.

Speaking at a community engagement in Khayelitsha, Cele said a conversation against GBV was well overdue.

““It is a fact, men commit the most violent crimes against women. For some reason, men think they own women and this false sense of ownership often leads to men treating women with disrespect and violence. It’s quite simple, women are fully fledged human beings and are not our pets,” Cele said.

He added that men needed to change their mindsets on how they view women.

According to the last released national crime statistics, the Western Cape Province recorded 1 611 sexual offence between April and June 2022.

Cele said that 1 115 people, mostly women, were raped during the same period in the province.

Cele added that alcohol and drug abuse; broken family units, including absent fathers; high rates off unemployment; and overall issues of inequality in communities have been raised as causes of violence against women by many male community members.

He said such GBV engagements with men should be a common occurrence, driven by community leaders, church and traditional leaders and other role models is society.

These discussions must take place in stokvels, places of entertainment, at police stations, schools and churches until this message is normalised and men seek and find help, he said.

“Talking about GBV to men, and with men, must be a lifestyle and it must be normal practice for men to address the issues they may have and be agents of change,” the police minister said.

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