The head of the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) has made an impassioned statement against violence towards women and children.
General secretary Rev Dr Prince Dibeela lamented on 3 December that members of the UCCSA women's and youth fellowships were among the women who suffer beating, rape and murder.
Following up on a commitment made at CWM's Assembly in June, he said the starting point for the fight against gender-based violence is the rejection of a church that is not gender balanced. "We should insist on our girls and women being present in the decisions and programmes of the church," he said.
He also called for an audit to find out how the UCCSA is including or excluding women in the life and witness of the church.
Few women out of the majority female denomination are leaders. And some of those that are find ways of entrenching themselves in power, becoming stumbling blocks to the empowerment of other women, Dibeela said.