BuaNews (Tshwane)
Bathandwa Mbola
10 December 2008
Queenstown — President Kgalema Motlanthe has called on South Africans to not only commit to ensuring that the rights of women and children are upheld but to open a new chapter in South African history which is free of violence.
Marking the close of the campaign to end violence against women and children in the country at an event at the Mlungisi Township in Queenstown on Wednesday, President Motlanthe said: "This new era must place our women and the young as equal human beings and citizens that will receive the full respect and support to live freely in all areas of South African life.
"In 1994, we destroyed the edifice of apartheid, in 2009 and beyond we must destroy the cancer of abuse of our women and children," he said.
This, he said, required the combined efforts of men, women, children government and the civil society.
"We need to remind our people that the abuse and ill-treatment of women and children constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights and a violation of our Constitution," said Mr Motlanthe, adding that many had paid the ultimate sacrifice for the Constitution.
The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign is a United Nations-endorsed initiative and therefore a global campaign seeking to raise global consciousness on the epidemic of gender and child violence besetting society.
Permeating all societal sectors across nations, this awareness is intended to rouse the whole country into action to eventually eradicate violence and further cure society of its negative effects.
This year, government focused on the scourge of abuse and violence against children, due to this being rife in South Africa.
The president said there was a need for South Africans to unite in the fight against gender and child violence and to make the 16 Days of Activism campaign a 365-day event.
"We will wage every minute, every hour, and every day during 2009. It is this kind of vigilance that will secure our future and vision of a non-racial, non-sexist South Africa, where all will be free of violence and all forms of discrimination and inequality," the President said.
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