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| Botshabelo taxi drivers Moeketsi Tjekele, Zondani Debele, Mosala Mabeleng, and Selebogo Finger dressed as women to show support for abused women. |
Women across South Africa are hailing as heroes four taxi drivers who wore dresses in support of abused women.
Moeketsi Tjekele, Zondani Debele, Mosala Mabeleng, and Selebogo Finger from the Botshabelo Amalgamated Taxi Association said their act was a show of solidarity.
Mosala said he had the idea while rank talking about gender-based violence at the taxi rank.
“We decided we could no longer keep quiet. We agreed to wear dresses like women and write messages of support on our taxis,” he told Daily Sun.
The messages on their taxis read, “No more!” and “I put my best foot forward to stand against
women and child abuse” and “enough is enough”.
women and child abuse” and “enough is enough”.
The men said passengers were fascinated when they saw them dressed like women.
Moeketsi said gender-based violence was destroying their image as men.“Instead of trusting us, women fear us. There’s no need for women to be treated badly just because they can’t protect themselves.”
Finger said a man should always protect a woman. “What we see is the opposite of that. Men should go back to their basics.”
Debele said women needed to be treated like queens. “They need to be taken care of, not abused,” he said.
Other taximen said they were shocked when they saw the fellow drivers rocking up in women’s dresses, but were impressed by their bravery.
“The taxi industry is dominated by men,” said taximan Ndlovu Gatsheni (45).
“What our brothers did was good. If we in the industry are talking about this, the violence might stop because this is a man to man message.”
Asked if they had experienced incidents where their family members were victim of gender-based violence, the taximen said no. They said they only wanted to create awareness.
Passenger Moipone Selepe (33) said: “This is great. We appreciate these guys for standing with us. The abuse and killing of women in the country is too much.”
Cynthia Matotong (29) said: “My sister was raped and killed. For that, I hated all men but when I see men doing something like this, I’m hopeful that one day women won’t live in fear of being raped or killed.”