Staff Reporter

eThekwini Municipality and activist group Mzansi Act Now led a four-kilometre awareness hike on Saturday with 50 female Durban University of Technology students in a campaign against gender-based violence and femicide.

The initiative, led through the municipality’s Community Services Committee, aimed to educate and empower young women while linking physical activity to advocacy, awareness and healing, the city said in a statement.

The municipality said the session focused “not only on physical wellness, but also on promoting healing as a critical component of long-term solutions to gender-based violence”.

“We are excited to be partnering with Mzansi Act Now and various stakeholders in delivering youth development programmes where participants can grow, support one another, and learn together,” Community Services Committee Chairperson Councillor Zama Sokhabase said.

The city said the hike formed part of efforts to address gender-based violence through partnerships, strategic planning and educational programmes that encourage open dialogue.

According to the 2022 National GBV Study by the Human Sciences Research Council, more than 35% of South African women aged 18 and older have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.

The municipality said the hike marked its first monthly collaboration of the year.

“The Committee will table and discuss ways to strengthen this partnership and engage more Municipal Directorates to extend the programme’s reach to more universities, and both male and female students,” Sokhabase said.

Mzansi Act Now — a movement founded by South African men to combat GBVFA, champion youth and female development, and promote men’s health and wellness — welcomed the partnership.

The organisation said no individual, regardless of gender, should experience gender-based violence.

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