Activists 'insulted' after march to Parliament

A GROUP of women who travelled from across the country to present their views on murdered children say they were denied the opportunity to be heard during a meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Police in Cape Town yesterday.

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

Members of the Women Empowerment Platform, who had journeyed from Johannesburg and Gqeberha, said they were left in tears and felt humiliated when their presentation was dismissed.

“We were emotionally and verbally abused by a member of Parliament using his power to disrespect us,” said Natalie Solomons, founder of the Women Empowerment Platform. “We are sitting in tears.”

The group had planned to present the case of Jayden-Lee Meek, 11, a young boy from Johannesburg who was brutally murdered and found dead outside his mother’s apartment.

They marched to Parliament and joined a virtual meeting of the Police Portfolio Committee, where they hoped to present their memorandum and speak on a broader crisis of child killings, police inaction and violent crime.

However, Solomons said they were denied the opportunity to present their prepared documents and were instead silenced during the session.