Klerksdorp – Premier of the North West, Kaobitsa Bushy Maape recently visited the KOSH Crisis Centre in the Matlosana Local Municipality as part of 16 Days of Activism Against Women and Child Abuse. The centre is located at Tshepong Hospital in Jouberton and it offers services ranging from counselling to capacity building as well as preparing victims of Gender-Based Violence for court procedures and support. It currently receives an annual budget of six hundred and fifty thousand rand from government.
Centre Manager Mr. Thabo Kgobe maintains the area has been experiencing unprecedented levels of abuse against women and children. He attributes this to a number of social ills gripping the area and neighbouring townships.
“The high levels of unemployment as a consequence of retrenchments in the mining sector have exacerbated cases of gender-based violence. Compounding these challenges are high levels of gangsterism, as well as undocumented children and adults due to illegal mining activities” Mr Kgobe remarked.
However, it has not been all doom and gloom. Since April this year, over one thousand victims have been assisted by the Centre. Premier Kaobitsa Bushy Maape is of the view that the role of non-governmental organisations in responding to the scourge of GenderBased Violence is encouraging. Premier Maape said government will embark on a campaign that will see NGOs empowered through advocacy and liaison.
“We need to speed up the transformation of our society and high on the agenda must be the empowerment of women and all vulnerable groups. We also need to channel more
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funding to institutions such as this one. If we don’t do this, these challenges will grow unabated. We need to develop strategies to arrest this crisis and this initiative is one of them. We need to have more centres such as this one” remarked Premier Maape.
Premier Maape has also urged communities to work hand in glove with government to report perpetrators of gender-based violence and most importantly to refer victims to relevant authorities and institutions to get help.
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Issued by the Office of the Premier For enquiries, Sello Tatai Spokesperson to the Premier North West Provincial Government Cell: 064 756 2510& 082 450 7842 E-mail: statai38@gmail.com Or
Mr. Brian Setswambung Provincial Head of Communication Office of the Premier North West Provincial Government Cell: 076 012 4501 E-mail: bsetswambung@nwpg.gov.za
