Member of Parliament for Thyolo East Masauko White says there is need for prayers and supplications in order to win the fight against gender based violence, including sexual violence, as he believes the cases are beyond human capacity and therefore require God’s intervention.
White said this on Tuesday, 15 December 2020 during the ceremony of 16 days of activism against gender based violence at a district level which was held at Mangunda ground in the area of Traditional Authority Nanseta.
He said the ceremony in the district is helpful as the messages that are imparted to people will transform and change mindset of women and children in as far as reporting gender based violence is concerned.
White further added that religious leaders also have to be involved in the battle against gender based violence in order to completely defeat the malpractice.
“Prayers in this battle are very important because these other issues of gender based violence that are happening are beyond our capacities. For example, men have reached the extent of even sleeping with Chicken, goats that is a different story after all, we have been living here and incidents which had been happening are not like this. That is why I said that we should at least engage these religious leaders so that they should tell people about the gospel maybe that could change people’s behavior,” said White.
However, White strongly warned those people who rape or engage in violence against children and women that the law will take its course as this time the government is serious and has taken special measures in order curb this malpractice.
Thyolo district commissioner Douglas Moffat concurred with White saying people in the country should join hands in this battle through reporting cases and avoiding doing any kind of GBV in order to have Malawi free of gender based violence.
The 16 Days of Activism against gender based violence starts from 25 November and end on 10 December.
