Siphokazi Mthathi calls for women to live their freedom in an op-ed piece for News24. Here’s an excerpt below:

During these 16 Days of Activism for no Violence Against Women and Children, we reclaim the empowering narratives of young black women as people with rights, agency and who are contributing to the transformation of the country. We reclaim the narratives of those who, through everyday resistance, revolt against the structures that keep their oppression intact. Those who revolt against everyday violence.

We are puzzled that the 16 Days of Activism in the department of women in the presidency has now focused its energy on men in the struggle to free women from violence. Through celebrating International Men’s Day and encouraging men to be central, women yet again get erased from a struggle in which they are the primary victims.

You can read the entire piece here