Proteas set to wear black in fight against femicide, violence against women

Cape Town - Cricket South Africa (CSA) added its voice and commitment to the fight against femicide and violence against women when it launched its Black Day campaign at the Kingsmead Stadium today.

The focus point of the campaign will be the T20 International match between the Proteas and Australia to be played in Durban on March 22 when both teams will wear black outfits in line with the overall theme.

“As Cricket South Africa we are painfully aware that our country is afflicted by rising numbers of femicide and violent crimes against women,” commented CSA acting chief executive, Jacques Faul.

“CSA wishes to support the fight against this injustice and to use its voice to draw attention to the prevention of gender-based violence by hosting a marquee match for women’s cricket, an event similar in nature to our Pink ODI and the Pink Sydney Test.

“CSA has termed the event Black Day in line with the colour of the national campaign against gender-based violence as supported by our Government.

“CSA calls on all to assist us in our endeavour to take a firm stand against this ill that threatens the well-being of our nation and to pledge support of CSA’s Black Day Initiative.

“It is highly appropriate that the match should take place in the month when we celebrate International Women’s Day which coincides with the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia,” concluded Faul.

All proceeds from this initiative will go to a soon-to-be-identified safe house for women, looking after the needs of those with little or no means to escape their abusive circumstances.

The official statistics for the past decade as provided by South African Police Services (SAPS) make for horrifying reading:

- Sexual offences for contact crimes amounted to 66992 in 2009/10 and there has been an insignificant reduction to 52420 in 2018/19 (breakdown: 41583 rape, 7437 sexual assault, 2146 attempted sexual offences and 1254 contact sexual offences).

- A comparison for the last three years shows that rape is up by 3.9 percent, sexual assault by 9.6 percent, attempted sexual offences by 3.9 percent and contact sexual offences by 2.7 percent

- In terms of causative factors for contact crimes, domestic violence accounted for almost 22000 and is the fourth highest factor overall

- Arguments and domestic violence are by far the biggest contributors to assault with intent to commit serious bodily harm (46000)

- Cricket SA