KHUBVI – The Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme (TVEP) has, since February, registered 14 cases of rape and 35 of domestic violence in Khubvi village alone.

TVEP also revealed that there is a serious abuse of alcohol and misuse of child support grant money by young women in the village. This led to a campaign that took place at Khubvi Sports grounds, north of Thohoyandou, on Thursday last week.

The TEVP Campaigns Coordinator, Mr Rendani Lugudu, said that the campaign was aimed at waging war against domestic violence, misuse of drugs, rape and the misuse of child support grants.

“Looking at the statistics at our disposal, one can see that there was a need to stage such a campaign in Khubvi village. We teamed up with the village traditional leader, Thinawanga Randima, Phalaphala FM, the Department of Education, SAPS, Department of Justice and members of the local community, to fight this war collectively. Our statistics only show the cases that were reported, but there are other unreported cases which we believe are also in large numbers. We also aimed at encouraging the local community to access the services of the Donald Fraser Hospital Trauma Centre, which is nearest to them, to report their problems.”

Ligudu said that the statistics in the village might have risen because there are many people who are victims of family violence, but are afraid to report it. “We want to encourage community members to break the silence about family violence, and other means of suffering. Our campaigns target places where there are higher rates of domestic crimes. We will take the campaigns to churches, schools and other public places.”

The traditional leader of Khubvi Village, Khosi Thinawanga Randima, said that the campaign has rejuvenated his people and he also believes it will bare fruit.

“We strongly condemn all sorts of criminal activities in this village. The campaign has been a major step in our war against unacceptable deeds in this village. We hope this campaign will breed new life into my subjects and all who are part of it.”

Representatives from the Department of Education, SAPS, the Department of Justice and IEC also gave messages against domestic violence during the function. Traditional dances from school children and community groups took turns in entertaining the guests. The function was turned into a fun day when pensioners defied domestic violence by participating in the fun run.