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President Jacob Zuma’s third wife, Bongi Ngema-Zuma, has urged gender-violence victims not to sit back and accept their situation.
Ngema-Zuma was speaking to City Press on the sidelines of the fifth Bongi Ngema-Zuma Foundation High Tea event held at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Conference Centre in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.
The event was attended by high-profile people, including Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa, Tourism Minister Thokozile Xasa, Gauteng health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa, former SABC board chairperson Ben Ngubane, representatives from the consulate of the Republic of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank.
This year’s theme was Men and Women Come Together to Stop the Violence Against Women and Children.
The keynote address was delivered by Commission of Gender Equality commissioner Mbuyiselo Botha.
The event comes at a time when the country has been rocked by incidents of femicide and violence on women.
One of the recent high-profile people exposed after an alleged violent attack against women was former higher education and training deputy minister Mduduzi Manana.
Media reports indicated on Saturday that President Jacob Zuma’s office had confirmed Manana’s resignation.
Manana allegedly assaulted a woman at a nightclub in the past weeks.
Commenting on incidents where high-profile people are implicated in alleged violent attacks, Ngema-Zuma said:
“Remember, before they occupy these seats, they are individuals. So that will come out. But also, we should not look at things from one side.
"We should look at what led to what people get involved in. I don’t want to judge anyone because we don’t know what circumstances led to what happened, but gender violence has to stop because women are vulnerable by nature.
"We are strong because we can carry families. We are pillars of the nation. We are vulnerable because we respect men, so we expect some respect from men as well.”
Her foundation has been hosting annual dialogues during Women’s Month to debate issues affecting women.
She said a decision was taken this year to invite men to be part of the discussions.
“If we gather as women and talk to ourselves, there will be no solutions... We will be saying the same thing that we all know happen. We need to bring men so that we can bring solutions,” she said.
Ngema-Zuma urged young people to follow their vision and not be defined by anyone else.
She also called on society to eat healthy food and exercise to remain healthy.
Her foundation, which was started in 2010, has been raising awareness about social challenges.
She said it has three strategic pillars.
These were health, education, and empowerment and development.
Ngema-Zuma said central to their health awareness was diabetes and other diseases.
She said education was a cornerstone of growth in any developing nation and the foundation was empowering and developing small businesses to eradicate poverty.
Some of the attendees who bought paintings for as much as R50 000 gave the paintings back and donated the money they had paid.
There was bidding for having lunch with Zuma and Ngema-Zuma. The final bid went for R100 000.
The foundation’s budget is R3 million per year.
The raised funds would go towards the foundation’s programmes.
Xasa and Molewa each donated R20 000 to the foundation.
