The South African Women Lawyers Association Student Chapter (SAWLA SC) President, and postgraduate law student, Noluyolo Nowonga Mabuza, has received an award for her passion and dedication as an advocate of gender-based violence and femicide.

The South African Women Lawyers Association Student Chapter (SAWLA SC) President, and postgraduate law student, Noluyolo Nowonga Mabuza, has received an award for her passion and dedication as an advocate of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). Ms Mabuza, who describes herself as an activist, an expressive poet, and an introverted extrovert, hails from Katlehong in Gauteng. She was raised by her grandmother, but recalls having no recollection of her parents being together as they separated when she was about three or four years old. She is the second born out of three children.

Kgomotso Ramotsho (KR): Congratulations on your recent award. Can you explain what the award is about?

Noluyolo Mabuza (NM): Thank you, the award presented by the Lady of Peace Community Foundation (LOPECO), is an award that recognises my contribution towards the fight against GBVF, which is one of my many passions. It is my first award, hopefully the first of many.

KR: How were you discovered by LOPECO?

NM: I was discovered through SAWLA’s SC, SAWLA gave me a bigger platform to advance my activism. I have always wanted to do more, touch more lives, impact change in society. I have always asked myself how I can be a vessel that influences change on a large or small scale, I guess someone is always watching whether you are aware or not.

KR: Where does your passion for combatting GBVF come from?

NM: A close friend of mine shared a very painful story of how she was raped at gunpoint during her first year at university. The story pained me and fuelled my passion of being an activist for anti-GBVF. I then did my research, it was based on how women can protect themselves, and I have a profound love for women. I was raised by strong women that overcame anything life threw at them. I am a product of a village of unsung Queens.

KR: As the SAWLA SC president together with the mother body of SAWLA, you led members of SAWLA in a march to the Union Buildings in December 2023, marching against GBV. However, you were not received by the leaders in government that you were hoping to engage with, such as President Cyril Ramaphosa, which resulted in the members of SAWLA not being able to hand over the memorandum of grievances to the relevant people you were hoping to address. How did the events of that day make you feel, as an activist of GBV?

NM: It made me feel unseen and unheard, especially with the high statistics of GBV in our country. It is almost as if our cries have fallen on deaf ears. I am a young woman living in South Africa, and it pains me each time I watch the news and there is a woman that met her untimely demise at the behest of an abuser.

KR: In your memorandum there were laws that you want amended or changed, can you elaborate on one or two of those laws.

NM: As I quote one of the demands on the memorandum:

‘We demand the urgent establishment of a more efficient and effective specialised unit staffed with properly trained and competent investigators to focus, prioritise and investigate exclusively gender-based violence and femicide cases.’

Does the number of arrests equate to the number of convictions on the GBV plight? I believe that GBV cases should have their own special victims’ unit, that has officers trained to thoroughly investigate femicide and trained to handle the victim/survivor. I have heard so many horrific stories of victims that had a terrible experience when reporting cases of GBV. Even up to this day, some have still not received the justice they deserve.

KR: What is the next step for SAWLA members, ensuring that the memorandum reaches the president of this country?

NM: We do not give up, we gather ourselves, restrategise and go back. If we give up, we fail women. We will persist until we are heard! There is a reason we are given this platform and I believe, it rests on our shoulders to make sure we use it to fight for women. It is quite sad that even with the history of women in this country and in the world in general that years later we are still fighting the same battles. Same struggle, different generation.

KR: What made you decide to study law?

NM: I am an advocate of justice. I think that law chose me. However, let me take you back to the monumental moment that defined the law ambition in me. There was this television show called Sokhulu and Partners. I was quite young when it aired, however, the representation of black professionals in any profession is important because I saw myself through them. I remember saying I want to wear that robe, I want to articulate like they do in court, and the beauty of it is that the actors looked like me so definitely it is possible. Furthermore, most of my favourite icons or activists were lawyers, there is something iconic when you rise in the pursuit of justice for all.

KR: Tell us how your love for poetry came about and what kind of message do you spread using poetry?

NM: My love for literature birthed my love for poetry. I love women, I was raised by strong women, and each time I pen, I pay homage to the women that raised me, each time I pen it is a dedication to the women that unapologetically existed in the most unfavourable times. I want people to feel so good after listening to my poetry that their purpose for life is reignited, and that they remember why they are here on this earth, and maybe I am the vessel for that purpose.

KR: What can we expect from you in 2024 as a young activist and as a postgraduate law student?

NM: I believe there is so much to do. I do not want to be a social media activist; I want to be part of a society that commands its own destiny. I want to be part of the movers and shakers in a society that carries the torch to another city and another one so forth. So, in essence, I hope my activism takes place on a platform that is bigger than me, and in my legal career, human rights both national and international seems to be my niche.

Kgomotso Ramotsho Cert Journ (Boston) Cert Photography (Vega) is the news reporter at De Rebus.