Community organisations from across Cape Town came together on Cape Town’s Grand Parade to hold a night time vigil to highlight the scourge of gender based violence in Cape Town and South Africa as a whole. This comes weeks after several violent incidents in and around Cape Town in which women and children were violently and brutally assaulted, raped and murdered.

Linda Jones, from the Mitchell’s Plain United Residents Association, believes tonight’s event is important because of the the high crime statistics on the Cape Flats and especially unreported incidents of gender based violence.

Venetia Orgill, a community activist who also runs a feeding scheme for homeless people, made reference to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitments in 2019 during the #AmINext protests to address the issues relating to gender based violence on a national basis.

Avril Andrews, from Mom’s Move for Justice, wants government to listen to community activists as they have much to offer in the fight against gender based violence.

Henry Arendse, from the Mitchell’s Plain Crisis Forum, said tonight’s event is an attempt to unite all community organisations in the fight against gender based violence.