Kabelo Faces Backlash Over New GBV Campaign

He empowers all the perpetrators to "seek healing"

By  | Nov 25, 2021, 11:37 AM  | Kabelo Mabalane  | Drama

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Kabelo Mabalane has received backlash for taking part in a gender based violence initiative which seeks to "empower" perpetrators to get help. This received mixed reactions from social media users who are baffled by his audacity to start a campaign where he sends out a positive message to perpetrators, especially after admitting to being a former abuser himself.

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Kabelo and his wife actress Gail Mabalane partnered with other ZAleb couples Dr. Musa Mthombeni and his wife Liesl Laurie-Mthombeni, as well as actor Lerato Makhetha and his wife Phetola MmaBakoena Makhetha.

#NoExcuse is an initiative he started in partnership with Carling Black Label to end this worrisome act of violence between couples, referred to as Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The initiative wants wedding vows to be re-written and to include the promise to never abuse your partner in anyway, shape or form.

Phethola wrote on her IG that the initiative is in talks with the department of home affairs to ensure that people include this promise in their vows. There is even a petition to make this change effective, "@carlingblacklabel would like to re-write the wedding vows to acknowledge the promise never to harm or abuse your partner. A commitment that all South Africans can make to oppose domestic violence.

"The brand is working with the Department of Home Affairs to see how they can get the vow changed by the SA council of churches to include the commitment that all South African’s can make when they get married to oppose gender based violence," she revealed.

This great initiative has all the right intentions to stop the surge of gender based violence in South Africa. The piercing pain in our hearts when we read about a story of women being murdered, abused or abused almost every day is too much to bear, and we certainly hope that every effort to eradicate this, comes to pass.

However, social media users are not impressed with Kabelo Mabalane's statement, pointing out the fact that he openly admitted to being an abuser himself.  "As a young man I too was a perpetrator of this shameful cowardly behaviour.

"The shame and the embarrassment made me shy away from these spaces and I’ve since learned that as important as it is to take full responsibility for this reprehensible unacceptable behaviour, I am also now at a place where I appreciate the importance of lending my voice to fighting this pandemic," he wrote on social media.

Kabelo then encouraged perpetrators of gender based violence to seek help, "To the perpetrators there is hope and there is healing. Don’t be afraid to get help."

Gail Mabalane also lent her voice to this initiative and said partners need to come together and end IPV and GBV. "Sadly, South Africa is facing 2 pandemics at the same time. As couples, we need to create healthy environments within our homes to start having these hard conversations honestly. Change can only come when we face this head-on. 🙏🏾

"To my sisters…I pledge my support as an ally. To the men…I’d like to encourage you to DO THE WORK."

Now the conversations are different on Instagram and Twitter. On IG people are commending the couple for taking this stand on helping out with this matter. But on Twitter, people are baffled that Kabelo admitted to being an abuser but still wanting to encourage men to seek healing. Many are worried of the fact that he made no mention of the abused women and their healing.

Some tweeps want to know why he did not divulge on his own experiences as an abuser. Here are the reactions:


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Image credit: Instagram
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