JOHANNESBURG - The fight against gender-based violence and femicide cannot be left to government and law enforcement alone.
Activist Nkosikhona Ndabandaba, also known as Phakela Umthakathi, has challenged men to step up.
He wants to see cooperation with police and greater responsibility for the safety of communities.
"We are coming here to say our women must feel safe, our young boys and young girls must feel safe, even the weak and sick must feel safe. We need to build a community where we don't judge the situation by the death of women only, but we judge the situation by the violence that is going on in the country, because on both sides, on females and males, there is violence.
“But on this case where women are being brutally killed like this, we are saying as men, we can't stand aside and look and watch and say it's a fight for the government. We are actually coming to this police station, to this court, to affirm the police that they have our support. You know that the police can't work without the community, and we are offering ourselves as men, for free, to help wherever we can help. If we have to stay awake day and night to make sure that our women are walking safely on the streets, we will do that. We are coming to offer ourselves for the community."