RUSTENBURG, June 10 (ANA) – Men were urged at a protest march in Rustenburg on Saturday to protect women and children.
“Where are you men? stand up and look after children in your community. Stand up and be counted; the community is falling apart,” Jacu Linde of the Platinum Motorcycle Association told a group of marchers in Tlhabane near Rustenburg.
The group, together with motorcyclists and police officers, marched from Rustenburg North to Tlhabane in an attempt to raise awareness about women and child abuse as well as human trafficking and drug abuse.
They held up placards voicing their concern as they marched about 5km from Noord Primary School to a shopping complex in Tlhabane, where pamphlets were distributed to the community.
Linde said the small number of people who showed up for the first leg of the march was disappointing, but he believed the community, in this way, would be aware of what was happening around them.
Rustenburg mayoral committee member for public safety Lucky Kgaladi said the main aim of the march was to make the community aware about women and child abuse.
“The purpose of the march is to bring awareness, education, and dialogue among civil society, business, law enforcement agencies, and NGOs regarding abuse and violence against women and children. We want to say this must stop.”
Another march was planned for June 17 from Rustenburg East to the taxi rank.
According to police, the decapitated bodies of two women were found near Rustenburg in May. The first was a 54-year-old woman found in the Kroondal area near the old Pretoria road on May 2.
A school bag containing an identity document of a friend was found among her possessions. The friend had since been located in the Free State. The friend informed police they had attended a church service in Rustenburg on March 26. The next day the two friends met at the Rustenburg taxi rank to return home.
The 54-year-old woman went to the ladies toilets to freshen up. When the taxi was ready to leave, her friend had not returned and she tried unsuccessfully to phone her. She took the taxi to Bloemfontein thinking her friend would get on the next taxi.
The second decapitated body was found by a pedestrian in a water trench in Buiten Street in Rustenburg on May 8. The woman’s right hand had also been cut off. She had not yet been identified.
– African News Agency (ANA)
