A non-profit organisation, in collaboration with Athlone SAPS, organised a placard demonstration in remembrance of women and children who suffered violent deaths, and to send a strong message that gender-based violence will not be tolerated.
Part of the Good Hope Foundation’s strategy to get the message across was to have women dress in white and wear sheets for the “We Refuse to be Ghosts” theme.
Women and children’s underwear, including nappies, were hung between posters at the placard demonstration, on the corners of Klipfontein Road and Jan Smuts Drive in Athlone on Thursday September 19.
Residents were encouraged to write on two crosses the names of loved ones who had died violently. Later, the group released white ribbons in memory of the victims.
Julie Koopman, from the Good Hope Foundation, said they wanted to put an end to the rape, abuse and murder of women and children.
Many of the women the foundation helped through its outreach work were trapped in abusive relationships, she said.