Thank you, hon Chairperson. I thank you, hon member, because you have just touched on the key issues that we need to address. Much of what we address are the after effects. We are dealing with the acts that have happened and manifested themselves through either rapes, killings, abuse of women and the total disregard of the importance and the dignity of women. We are saying it clearly that there needs to be a particular regeneration and a particular culture change which will firstly need to focus on men and we need to look at them as young boys, just right from the age when they are young boys and be able to inculcate particular orientation in young boys with the respect of women, the
respect of the dignity of women and the role that they have to play in the society. However, clearly in society as well, we have to address this demon of patriarchy where men believe that they are the beginning and the end of everything that is good in the world and that they can own and control women.
We need to send a very clear message that there is no man who owns a woman. Women belong to no one and especially to no man at all. We need to be stressing that men must respect women, they must treat them with dignity and with a great deal of respect. However, we need to start this from the young men. There are number of organisations that have already started with this process that we need to strengthen, where they are focussing on young boys by trying to raise that level of consciousness to them. Clearly, we need to do it amongst older men as well. So, we need to launch a massive campaign amongst older men as well that they should know that gender-based violence will never be tolerated in South Africa.
We should do things that will act as a deterrent and that should prevent them from wanting to abuse women. That is why we are also focussing on the criminal justice system, to make sure that it is effective and efficient enough to act as a deterrent. That is why when the women of our country raised the issue of; if you rape you
must know that you get life sentence and life means life. If you kill a woman you must know that you will get a life sentence and life means life, it means that you will never come out of jail. So, hoping that that in itself act as a deterrent, we still need to do quite a lot of work amongst men, amongst young men and indeed the older men as well because that is where patriarchy is found, where men believe that they are much more superior than women.
So, it is a process and a struggle that we must embark upon. That is why we call on all society to join us in this to make sure that in the end the women of our country are given the dignity that they deserve and that their rights are also respected and promoted. Thank you very much. [Applause.]