The names of people found guilty of abusing women and children should be recorded and displayed in all state institutions, says a group a women from St Augustine Anglican Church who handed over a memorandum detailing this and other demands to the court manager at the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday.
The names of people found guilty of abusing women and children should be recorded and displayed in all state institutions, says a group a women from St Augustine Anglican Church who handed over a memorandum detailing this and other demands to the court manager at the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday.
Carrying placards that read, “Protection of children is the protection of a nation” and “No to abuse of women and children”, they gathered at Church Square as part of the 16 days of activism against violence on women and children campaign and walked to the Grahamstown High Court, where they sang hymns before handing over the memorandum to court manager Nosisi Mgudlwa.
Among their demands by the women was that those accused of abusing women and children should be denied bail and that those found guilty should be given harsher sentences. In addition, the names of convicted abusers should be recorded in a book to be displayed in all state institutions.
They also said abused women and children should be placed under care and support programmes. In an interview with Grocott's Mail, Women's Union Parish leader, Bukelwa Gumenge, said the community wanted to know what the church was saying about abuse.
“As women of St Augustine Church, we say enough is enough. Down with the abuse of children and women,” said Gumenge. She also called upon women themselves to stand up and fight against the abuse of women and children. “Some of the children who commit these offences grew up in churches.
Some of the fathers who abuse their children are also members of the church,” she said. Accepting the memorandum, Mgudlwa promised she would ensure the memorandum reached the chief justice, as well as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. “We accept the memorandum. You have shown that you really are against women and child abuse,” she said.
