“I thought I could change him, however, the abuse escalated further and further until one day he bought petrol and locked me and our baby up in the room and set it alight which claimed the life of our child…,” says the bold and courageous 3rd-degree burned survival. This chilling narrative was shared at the recent GBVF prestigious gala dinner and fundraising event – a collaboration between Hotel 247 and Who is She? Foundation with their co-partners under the slogan: “GBVF is real”. Blessing Mmola gives you a snippet of what transpired during this star-studded evening…
Hotel 247 White River teamed up with its partners to deliver a successful one-of-a-kind Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) gala dinner and fundraising event on 5 August 2023.
Gender-based violence and femicide have been significant social ills plaguing South Africa, with alarming rates of violence against all genders. The tourism sector, as a major contributor to the country’s economy and social fabric, can play a crucial role in redressing these challenges by raising awareness; training and sensitising hotel staff; embarking on economic empowerment initiatives that plough back into communities; and undertaking advocacy and policy support involving multiple stakeholders.
As the Hotel, we believe that the tourism sector has to collaborate with local NGOs and public sector institutions in combatting gender-based violence.
As a result, our hotel has forged a partnership with Who is She? Foundation that gave birth to twelve more co-partnerships to raise awareness against GBVF in Mpumalanga province under the theme: “GBVF is real”. The primary objective was to explore modalities of developing possible solutions to the scourge of GBVF. These partners included Mpumalanga’s Office of the Premier; Department of Social Development; the provincial chapter of the national Department of Justice and Correctional Services; SANCA Lowveld; Mpumalanga Shelters; Men-Up Organisation; University of Mpumalanga; Ehlazeni TVET College; and Mrs Mpumalanga Ambassador 2023. The author of “Buried in Silence”, sis Linkie Mohlala; Dr Prudence Buthelezi; and Childline Mpumalanga constituted a project team of stakeholders involved in the plenary meetings for the eventual success of this event.
After our intensive research, the project team came to the conclusion that in today’s age, the wheel of the GBVF target stakeholder segment has turned tremendously. Despite the achievements our businesses and government having progressive anti-GBVF policies, the scourge of persists. The event is therefore planned to take place annually with regular community programmes as build-ups towards the main event. The successful execution of these community programs during the year is to be celebrated at the annual event.
This prestigious well-organised event started off with a great red carpet entrance sponsored by Garden City Motors Mbombela who chauffeured the event’s special guests and speakers to and fro their doorstep to the red carpet. The ambience during the Red Carpet Moment was dazzled by the saxophone music eloquently fished out by Justice Sibusiso King. The activities that entertained the guests on the red carpet also included networking, photoshoots, visitations of the business stalls that supported this great initiative, a variety of cocktail drinks, and light meals. The guests were later moved to the event hall where Khosi Mthalane, the Director of Hotel 247, cut the ribbon for guests’ newly-launched hall which was used for this prestigious GBVF event.
The event was well supported and attended by well-known local prominent businessmen and women, the corporate sector, and the public sector of Mpumalanga province including Aaron Moloisi who was the celebrity guest for the night.
The GBVF gala dinner and fundraising event also hosted a live performance by Selby Mhlogo, King Don Donald Thobela and Felicia Ndlela KaSompisi.
The event was packed with great speakers hand-picked by the project team to ensure they made a long-lasting positive impact on their audiences.
Some of these included the Bold and Courageous founder of Burned Survival South Africa who survived a 3rddegree burn, Thembi Maphanga. She advised the audiences not to ignore the signs of abuse in their relationships as they gradually evolve from emotional to psychological, mental and ultimately into physical abuse. She mentioned she experienced every level of abuse in her relationship with the partner whom she had a baby with. “I hoped I could change him but the abuse persisted until one day he bought petrol and locked me and our baby in the room and set it alight.”
Thembi continued with her heart-wrenching story of abuse and survival. “For some reason or another, I miraculously managed to break the window, battled to widen the window frames and forced my way out of the burning fire and extinguished the fire with water from the tap. I collapsed and fell into a coma only to recover my consciousness in hospital nine months later. I suffered the worst excruciating pain all over my body and soul to be told that my daughter passed on from the fire and was already buried. I did not have time to say goodbye to her. However, I forgave him not for him but for me.”
Thandi Shongwe, a Director in the Office of the Premier responsible monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of policy imperatives in relation to the rights of disabled persons, youth development, women empowerment, and gender equity, addressed the gathering too. During her speech she stressed the importance of collaborative and multisectoral efforts to curb GBVF.
Siya Maphanga, the COO of We Solve 4 X Foundation who called himself as a “a child from the street to the boardroom” as the scourge of GBV forced him into the streets as a child. He was later saved by Mr and Mrs Emmanuel who took him under their care and provided him with education. He stressed the importance of our government justice system adjusting its polices to meet the needs of the victims fully. He almost moved the audience to tears as he mentioned he still did not know his real surname, hence he’s using of his adoptive parents. ‘We solve for X’ is an organisation that provides free maths classes to learners in grades 4 to 12 and also teaches parents maths so that they can help their kids with their studies. He further explained that their foundation also aimed at supporting learners and parents who who were victims of GBV to empower them psychologically and mentally to cope in class through their team of social workers. The foundation also has a toilet paper factory that generate revenue to help the foundation to be self-sustainable.
Advocate Faith Phala, one of the pioneers of community legal education in Mpumalanga, focused on the issue of domestic violence which is an age-old scourge that was previously dealt with through the Prevention of Family Violence Act, then amended as the Domestic Violence Act. The Department of Justice has now improved on the previous act by introducing the issuance of Protection Orders as a preventative measure. Now it goes further by availing the protection order services online, 24 Hours, with staff on standby and extending the services of Court intermediaries to older victims of domestic violence. All courts will have a kiosk where applicants who have no access to internet connectivity can connect to the free Wi-Fi provided to file online applications. It has also introduced the National Register of Sex Offenders (NRSO) – a public register of convicted sex offenders.
As a result of this great initiative, two community projects were adopted by our team of stakeholders to leverage the impact that evening. These community projects included the Vusi Sidande School’s Project. It’s headed by a crazy guy who cycled from Musina to Cape Town to raise funds for his l school shoes project. The second project to benefit is Who is She? Foundation’s community project of distributing food parcels in December to indigent families. They have been doing this for the past 4 years. The founder of Who Is She Foundation, Mam Glad, indicated they celebrated Women / Mothers from all walks of life – especially those that are less privileged.
150 school shoes were donated to three different schools of our Mpumalanga province’s rural areas through the assistance of a number of our local businesses and individuals – and these included Hillaria High School, Mthombo Secondary School, and Thembalethu Primary School.
Hlengiwe Mahlalela, who is responsible for the Mthobo Secondary school’s social activities department in the area called Newscorn in Mpumalanga, mentioned that most of the challenges faced by their learners are caused by poverty. These include learners not having proper school uniforms due to lack of financial support from some of the parents.
Through the assistance of our local business sector and our caring community of Mpumalanga, food groceries were also bought to support Who is She? Foundation’s initiative, and a further R23 000 was also pledged from during the event.
The Hotel 247 and its partners would like to extend their gratitude to the following 34 businesses that responded conscientiously to the call to support this GBVF initiative: Hotel 247 and its partners would like to extend their gratitude to 34 local businesses that supported the initiative: Big Sky Travel, Lowveld Link, Kim Leisure, FNB, Garden City Motors, Mndebele Properties, Chafzar Lifestyle, Vusi Mona, Rooikat Liquors, Day8ight, Jill Fresh, Volumicious, Bella’s Athletic Club, Lowveld Link, Oasis Water, Faith Aesthetics,CCBSA, Sonwa Hair Care, Ndalo Lodge, Otdeyyo Aesthetics Clinic, The Language of Flowers, Woolworths, Blom’s ,VVJ Events, Dazzled Creations, Lynmarie Grifford designs, Lokuhle FM, Voice of Hope Alive, Sheppard Sofa, Saturn Media, Made Brilliant, INiAFRICA Media and Brandhill Africa.
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Ms. Blessing Mmola is the Sales and Marketing Manager of Hotel 247. They are available on +27 13 751 1100.