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The Centre provides Psycho-social assistance to the destitute, Counselling Services, Accommodation to the victimized persons, Training volunteers and Protection to the victimised.
The objectives of the Centre is to reduce abuse and violence in the communities and re-unite abused members with their families. The centre also aims to provide a safe environment for those accommodated in the centre and protect the community members against any forms of violence and abuse. It also opts to create a healthy living environment within the community and develop trust amongst community members.
The centre is located closer to the University of Limpopo and the Zion Christian Church. The challenges the Community faced were that there has been many incidences of abuse, namely sexual, economic, social, and verbal.
Most of these abuses happened during the Zion Christian Church Pilgrimage, Good Fridays and December where most of the migrant workers come home. The student at the University were raped and physically abused by the local young men. The Department of Justice, Education, South African Police Services and Social Development came together and developed a strategies for dealing with the challenges. The result was that the Mankweng Victim Support Centre was established and located at the Mankweng Police Services Station.
Women have been empowered to identify the various forms of abuse and report them to the Department of Safety and Security. They are afraid of reporting cases of abuse. There are men who have volunteered to take lead in ensuring that women and children and the disabled persons are not abused.
Men have changed their behaviour towards their partners with the result that there is stabilities within the families and communities. There are less cases of physical abuses been reported at the police station. This is an indication that the Centre has had an impact amongst members of the communities.
Before the establishment many abuse cases where women were reporting at the Mankweng Police Station were abuse cases by their partners. The number of cases reported at the station has reduced. Our assumption is that the centre has had an impact in person knowing the various forms of abuse and are able to deal with them. Rape cases reported a have also reduced. Physical abuse cases seem to have hitting a lower ebb within the communities.
Members of the community need more information on the different forms of abuse. The Centre have adopted a strategy to issue pamphlets on the forms of abuses. These seemed more effective than verbal communication. Community members are able read on their own to understand the various forms of abuse.
📝Read the emotional article by @nokwe_mnomiya, with a personal plea: 🇿🇦Breaking the cycle of violence!https://t.co/6kPcu2Whwm pic.twitter.com/d60tsBqJwx
— Gender Links (@GenderLinks) December 17, 2024
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