During a day of prayer against gender-based violence, a Gugulethu pastor urged those in abusive relationships to leave before it was too late.
At the event, organise by Abathunywa Ministers Fraternity in Gugulethu last Sunday, Pastor Sindiswa Keva, said one should never tolerate an abusive partner in the name of love.
“The same hands that claims to love us are the same hands that kill us daily,” she said.
“No one has the right to kill one another. We must talk about these things in church as well and never sugar-coat them. We must be upfront about these matters,” she said.
Ms Keva said something needs to be done to heal our society, highlighting that many parents who sent their daughters to university had them return in body bags, having been killed by their boyfriends.
She added that, in many cases, if the abuser was the provider, the partner would stay in the relationship, hoping the other would change.
Former human settlements deputy minister Zoe Kota-Fredericks urged women to love themselves first before anyone. Quoting a song made popular by Nina Simone, she urged them to “leave when love is no longer being served”.
She said men should take a firm stand against gender-based violence because it was their friends who were committing these atrocities.
She said it was urged the community at large not to harbour abuses instead shame them and ensure that they are arrested for their sins.
Reverend Zama Mfihlo, the president of the Abathunywa Ministers Fraternity said they would embark on a series of programmes to mobilise communities against gender-based violence.
