Activism should be for 365 days
11 Nov 2011
Monwabisi Nkompela, spokesperson in the premier’s office, said: “We should make every effort to extend this programme to become a programme that will last for 365 days in a year.”
He said the reason for this was because children were abused every day, women were raped and murdered every day and “we must realise the vision as 365 days of action”.
Exposure to violence during childhood had been shown to have profound and lasting effects on children’s overall development, with debilitating and chronic effects that extended well into adulthood, he said.
Nkompela said violence against boys and girls could lead to far-reaching physical and psychological consequences, some with fatal outcomes. Nkompela said children who had been sexually abused in their childhood were more likely to engage in risky behaviour such as early sexual intercourse and being at risk of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and unwanted pregnancies among girls. Nkompela said a conference which took place in Benoni in 2006 took a resolution to deepen and strengthen “our activism to end gender-based violence and extend the 16 days of activism to 365 days of action”.
