Female law enforcers end Women’s Month in style

02 September 2016

 

The Johannesburg city centre almost came to a standstill on Thursday September 1 when throngs of women officers from the various law enforcement agencies marched in the streets to mark the end of National Women’s Month.

 

This year South Africa celebrated the 60th anniversary of National Women’s Month in tribute to the 20 000 women who – led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia de Bruyn = bravely marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to hand a petition to then apartheid Prime Minister JG Strijdom on 9 August 1956 demanding equal rights.

 

On Thursday female officers attached to the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD), South African Police Service (SAPS), Emergency Management Services (EMS) and the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), resplendent in their uniforms, turned the city centre into a kaleidoscope of colour as they marched from the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown to the Johannesburg CBD and back.

 

The marchers were led by the SAPS’s Major-General Anna Mateisi, who said women in the law enforcement fraternity had a collective responsibility to ensure that they served their communities well. She also said they bore the responsibility of the well-being of female civilians.   “We held many activities during the month of August, in every department of our law enforcement agencies. Today we are rounding off National Women’s Month jointly to show we are united within the fraternity. 

 

“As the law enforcement community, we would also like to praise ordinary female citizens out there for making strides in ensuring that women are empowered,” she said. 

 

Mateisi said domestic violence was a scourge in many communities and warned perpetrators that they would be brought to book.   “During Women’s Month, we identified safe homes where women who suffered domestic violence will be looked after. We are doing this through various projects that have been put in place to ensure the safety of unsupported women in many communities in Johannesburg,” she said. 

 

JMPD’s Angie Mokati, who was also at the forefront of the march, said: “Jointly, we are saying that our objective is one to serve and protect all the women of Johannesburg. And for all the women out there who wish to be recruited into law enforcement you will be saluted. 

 

Mokati also said JMPD would embark on a road safety campaign to dispel the stereotype that women were poor drivers.   “In most cases, when we conduct operations on the road we find that women obey traffic rules than their male counterparts. This will be part of the programmes that we will be engaging communities through,” she said.