Motlatsi Tau-Tsoelikana Council COE

Motlatsi Tau is a Mosotho man aged 46, who lives in Sehlabathebe, in the district of Qacha’s Nek. Ntate Tau mentioned that he has never worked with Gender Links directly, but he knows Gender Links through his councillor. He learned that his councillor has been engaging with Gender Links in the council, and he mentioned that Tsoelikana is part of the COE process and has been working with Gender Links for quite some time now.

He learned that councillors were equipped on gender issues, and after that, his council went straight to his community to share these issues with them. His councillor made such a big gathering, and he was talking about gender issues and encouraging the men to support their partners and make decisions with them. He was not trying to make men feel less important, but he was helping them as men to realize that they cannot do anything without their partners. From that day on, he made a decision that he would engage with his partner. He noted that it was difficult at first, because that’s not how they were raised as Basotho people.

There were lots and lots of things that they were sure that they would not do as men, because they were considered as women’s task. But then he said he is in a position to help his partner at any level; after all, he got help from his councillor through Gender Links. He highlighted that, “at first, I would not even try put our child to bed or help him if he was crying, because I believed that it was my wife’s job. Even if she was doing something, she would have to leave whatever she was doing and take care of the crying baby.”
Ntate Tau agreed that community gatherings helped him so much, because now he has a very clear understanding of gender issues. He noted that it was only then, after those gatherings, that he was not only supporting his wife, but also helping her in terms offloading all the work she was doing. Now, he also now manages to encourage all men in his area to form men’s support groups, as it was considered as women’s job because they are not getting any form of payment. So basically, men believe that any job that people do without being paid is for women.

Now there is a group of about ten men. Nobody is paying them, but they are looking after orphans, vulnerable children, and people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. The whole idea of forming men’s support groups was to show people, especially other men, that they can also contribute in their community without being labelled. He closed that even though he did not interact with Gender Links directly, he benefited a lot from the work that is has done with the Tsoelikana council.