A new Gender Based Violence facility opened in the Stellenbosch area and will provide a lifeline to many victims and survivors of GBV. The Western Cape Minister of Social Development, Sharna Fernandez, attended the formal opening of the Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC).

She says that it is important that everyone maintains an effective working relationship to ensure no one in need of support is left behind. She adds that those who will be working here have a great responsibility to ensure that each wounded individual who walks through these doors leaves here feeling supported, hopeful, and, as the word thuthuzela means comforted.

Thuthuzela Care Centres and DSD-supported GBV shelters in the Western Cape have cared for more than 21 000 survivors each year. Nine Thuthuzela Centers are in operation.  

In the Western Cape High Court, two gang members were found guilty of mass murder in Khayelitsha in 2020. Guptas gang members Gcinithemba Beja and Fundile Maseti were in a shoot-out at a tavern in Site B, Khayelitsha, on March 8, 2020, and were found guilty on seven counts of murder, three attempted murders, possession of unlicensed firearms, and ammunition charges.

Judge Daniel Thulare says that witnesses confirmed Beja and Maseti were extortionists, and the two were known for collecting protection fees from businesses. Beja and Maseti were each sentenced to 14 life terms. 

Cape Town’s Nuhaa Bardien has become a self-published writer. She successfully launched her first book, Till This Night, over the weekend. The event took place at the Cape Town Central Library on Saturday.

Bardien says that she has always loved books; she loves reading. She says that she used to live at the library when she was younger and throughout high school because it was very close to her school. She used to walk there after school.

Her romance novel Till This Night follows Savi Ray, who is a second-generation Indian woman living in London, as well as Theodore “Ted” Montague, who is from a traditional British-English family. 

The book will be available on April 23 on Amazon. 

You can also contact Nuhaa via her website, nuhaa@nuhaarwrites.com, or via Instagram, @nuhaamakes. 

The book retails for R220 or R280 with additional goodies. 

Book review

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says that they have received more than 20 000 applications from citizens in the Western Cape for special and Section 24A votes.

They received 8 042 applications for the national ballot and 4 902 applications for regional and provincial ballots. Voters have until May 17 to apply. Electoral Matters Manager Belinda Mbeleni says that voters are allowed to notify the commission of their intention to vote elsewhere if they could not do so at their registered voting stations. She says that if you are deployed and assist with an election and you will not be close to the voting station where you are ordinarily registered, you inform us of your intention to vote elsewhere.

Mbeleni says that preparations for the election in the Western Cape are at an advanced stage. There will be 1572 confirmed voting stations so far, and they are training deputy presiding officers and the rest of the voting station staff. She confirms that training started in March and will continue until the end of May. 

Apply here for special votes.

Pictures: Daily Voice and IOL

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