The month of August is all about commemorating women and the extraordinary work they do to uplift other women and bring change within their communities.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much to celebrate when women and children continue to be the victims of abuse with no justice in the end.
Activists and gender-based violence (GBV) survivors Mbali Shongwe, Tshianzi Tshinaba, Ashlee Abrahams-Fitzgerald, and Tayla Johnson have launched the #MyVoiceForJustice campaign.
Through this campaign, they share their survivor stories to highlight how they have been let down by the South African justice system.
And with their stories, they hope to empower other women who went through the same fate to let them know that they are not alone.
“All South Africans need to play a more active role in tackling the challenges associated with GBV, frivolous commemorations or meaningless statements, just won’t cut it. We need to be intentional, correct the issues and make the system work. It's way past being a women’s problem now, it’s our country’s problem now,” says Shongwe.
She adds that most women, including herself, have not been able to get justice due to the lack of evidence in the DNA. And that is one of the reasons that pushed her to launch the campaign.
“A constant theme of my journey as a rape survivor has been the trauma of reporting. I remember going through all these invasive tests and being told that the DNA evidence in my case wasn't sufficient.
“Without more accountability and humanity from the police and government, failings in our justice system and the DNA backlog will continue to deny me, and other survivors the justice we seek. And this is what motivated me to start the #MyVoiceForJustice campaign,” explains Shongwe.
She believes that ending the DNA backlog and creating transparent and accountable reporting would put more GBV offenders behind bars and get more survivors the justice and closure they deserve.
Shongwe urges more GBV victims and survivors to use the hashtag #MyVoiceForJustice to share their stories to raise awareness.