We need to open up and talk about GBV: Joburg Speaker

City of Johannesburg Council Speaker Margaret Arnolds and ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba attend the funeral service of a four-year-old girl at Don Mateman Hall in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg on August 19, 2025.

City of Johannesburg Council Speaker Margaret Arnolds has encouraged parents and community members to take a stand against Gender-based Violence (GBV) by reporting all incidents to the relevant authorities.

She was speaking at the funeral service of the four-year-old child, who died of her injuries after being physically and sexually assaulted allegedly by her father.

The funeral is under way at the Don Mateman Hall in Eldorado Park.

Arnolds says it is time that community members unite and educate themselves on how to identify and respond to abuse.

She says, “Let’s go to the authorities, let us as a community get together and deal with it. You do not understand GBV if you’ve not been through GBV. You cannot talk about something that you don’t know and some of us know it, and I agree with the ladies that was at the National Convention. We need to talk about it. We need to open up about it.”