Empowering women with knowledge of the law

On Saturday August 8, the Southern Suburbs Legal Advice Centre (SSLAC) and ANC Parliamentary Constituency Office (PCO) were hosted by Enough SA and Women of Hope at the Lakeview Baptist Church, in Retreat, to address the topic How to use the law against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

The Southern Suburbs Legal Advice Centre (SSLAC) partnered with the ANC Parliamentary Constituency Office (PCO) to launch their Women’s Month programme on how to use the law as a tool against gender-based violence and femicide, on Thursday August 7.

The programme includes a webinar themed “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”, which consists of a three-part pre-recorded video series and was released on Saturday August 8, Sunday August 9 and Monday August 10.

Advocate Hishaam Mohamed, facilitator of the programme, said the videos will empower participants to protect themselves and fight the scourge of gender-based violence.

The eight-minute videos start with an introduction to gender-based violence and government response to date; advice on legislative amendments to existing laws to combat gender-based violence as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa; as well as a video on how to obtain a protection order and protection from harassment order.

The videos can be viewed on YouTube and their Facebook pages.

Mr Mohamed said the programmes would take place throughout the month.

On Saturday August 8, sanitary towels and food parcels were delivered to women of Enough SA in Retreat.

On Monday August 10, there was a distribution of sanitary towels and food parcels to single mothers and activists in Retreat.

On Tuesday August 11, in the morning, they planned to honour nurses at Cafda Day Hospital.

In the afternoon, they planned to visit Grassy Park police station to check on reported gender-
based violence and femicide cases for the last six months and inspect availability of rape test kits.