Cape Town - It has now become more important for men to do frank introspection on how they have moved from being protectors to being viewed as monsters in their homes, and society.
This is a sentiment shared by Project Uluvo secretary Phindile George ahead of the organisation’s inaugural men’s conference this weekend. George said it has become more urgent for men to come up with tangible solutions to societal problems and not sit back while the scourge of gender-based violence is worsening.
From Friday until Sunday, men will be congregating at the Tusong Centre in Khayelitsha for the conference, aiming to bring together men for round table discussions and the crafting of a “new man”.
For the past few years, February has been used to stimulate an imaginary “men’s conference” which has become popular on social media.
Project Uluvo said it was using this period to mobilise strategic partner organisations and men in society to be at the forefront of moral regeneration and the fight to eliminate violence against women and girls.
“We need to keep the boy child busy and moulded so that they don’t feel neglected by society as these are the things that make them susceptible to be recruited by crime, gangs, and drugs,” said George.
Organiser Eric Kweleta said men had been confronted with many challenges and there hadn’t been a platform for them to address issues as fathers, brothers, and husbands.
“There are negative connotations associated with men and we want to move away from reacting after an incident. We now want to get our hands dirty. We decided to use this period to ensure that we move this conference from an imaginary to a real one where we discuss the issue of gender-based violence against women and girls with men who are perpetrators.”
“It is important for us men to have these discussions to see how best we can deal with ensuring that we work towards ending this scourge and come out of the conference with a new man. We are looking to integrate these young ones to be part of the conference,” said Kweleta.
He said that after the conference they were looking at initiating discussions on, among other things, the mentoring of young men through initiation programmes where they would be inducted into manhood, and teaching them relationship dynamics.