Kathy Baxter, SPAR Group Project Manager, Kevin O’Brien, SPAR Group Sustainability Executive and Elsabe van Zyl-Felix, Advertising Manager SPAR Western Cape.

Business and community leaders came together with a message of collaboration and hope at the official launch of the Stellenbosch GBV Centre, the first of its kind in South Africa. This Thuthuzela Care Centre model differs from preceding TCC’s in that it is not situated on hospital premises.

At the opening of the 64th TCC in the country, the collaboration between the private sector and government was apparent, as the various stakeholders converged with the common goal of eradicating the scourge of gender-based violence that continues to plague South Africa.

National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Shamila Batohi, in her address, though highlighting the fact that South Africa is amongst the top 10 countries cited worldwide with the highest incidence of rape cases, said that a larger TCC footprint translates into more reporting, and ultimately a greater number of convictions. “The centres make the unbearable, bearable as more victims find justice at the end of the day.”

Co-Founder of the Ring for Peace Cape Trust, Professor W Schürer, paying homage to the legacy of Nelson Mandela, said that partnerships built on inter-reliance and trust led to success. 

Representing the GBV Leadership Group, Dr Holger Wellman, intimated that through collaborations such as these, “we ultimately give hope to South Africa.”

Speaking on behalf of SPAR, Group Sustainability Executive, Kevin O’Brien, endorsed the SPAR Group’s continued commitment to end GBV and to be activists for change. 

The SPAR Group donates basic groceries and care items every month to the TCC’s throughout the country. It was in September 2019 that the SPAR Group Ltd launched its END GENDer-Based Violence initiative, in which it pledged to take practical steps towards ending the pandemic of GBV in this country.

The stand-alone Centre, according to Ward Councilor, Karli van Wyk, offers a beacon of hope for the greater Stellenbosch community, and has already seen an increase in the number of people approaching the victim orientated space.

MEC for the Department of Social Development in the Western Cape, Sharna Fernandez, spoke about the focus on gender healing and lauded the Centre as “a special place that has been created by special people, for a special purpose.”

Keynote speaker, the Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, John Jeffery highlighted how the Care Centres play such an important role in getting sexual offenders to court, and ultimately convicted. 

A key player in the founding of the NPA’s Thuthuzela Care Centres and their countrywide role out, Adv Bonnie Currie-Gamwo, Special Director of Public Prosecutions: SOCA, in her vote of thanks heralded the Centre as a flagship, a model to be replicated in the future.

The SPAR Group Ltd business model is one that is essentially built round service to the community that it does business within, and the collaboration with the NPA and relevant stakeholders in the roll out and support of the Thuthuzela Care Centres nationally, forms an important part of the Group’s commitment to this core value.