TSHILIDZINI – Munna ndi Nnyi, a Limpopo based organisation that was formed ten years ago to encourage men to be responsible husbands, is to spread to other provinces.

Munna ndi nnyi, which literally means, "who is the real man" started at the maternity ward in Tshilidzini Hospital. The organisation was formed to encourage men to support their partners. This was after realising that women were not getting enough support from their partners during pregnancy time or delivery periods. Some were totally neglected in such a way that they were not even supported financially.

The formation of Munna ndi nnyi also helps to encourage men to allow their partners to use family planning.

A few years ago, Munna ndi nnyi started moving into the community where it became a community based organisation and started looking at family problems like family violence and other abuses.

It started to attract the attention of men from different professions such as doctors, lawyers and others. It also concentrated on encouraging men through holding community meetings, to look after their families and to be responsible fathers.

The Public Relations Officer of Munna ndi nnyi, Mutshinya Nemakonde said they are now encouraging men to speak out against abuse. "We have discovered that many men are abused, but they do not report these things because they think they will be laughed at.

"Through the department of health and welfare in the province, we are going to get funds from the UN so that we can spread to other provinces and reach all the villages within the province. Our slogan says that a man is not only a man because of wearing trousers, but because of the responsibility in his mind, hands and legs.

"Man's hands are not made to abuse women. His legs are not to take him to do crime. They are made to do all positive things a man should do," said Nemakonde.

Nemakonde said they are concerned about the preference given to women against men at police stations. He said all cases should be treated equally irrespective of who is involved.

"If a man reports that he is being abused, police officers laugh at him and tell him to go back home. As Munna ndi nnyi, we think police are abusing the law, as they are not treating all cases equally. However, we congratulate police officers that do not take sides. Only a few corrupt police officers are biased. Some men resort to violence when their partners attack them because they know their cases won't be attended to. Many men fail to perform their duties because of different problems like lower salary and other related matters which result in an inferiority complex, said Nemakonde.

Nemakonde said Munna ndi nnyi still believes that men are still heads of their families no matter what. "When other women are getting better salaries than their husbands, they tend to become big headed and this causes havoc. We also encourage both men and women to love each other, to love their children, and not to side with children. One happy family added to another happy family will make two happy families. This will result in making all families in South Africa happy and we will have a happy country," said Nemakonde.