“GBVF IS A WILDfire. TODAY LIMPOPO HEALTH BECAME THE FIREBREAK.” MEC MASHEGO MOBILISES HEALTH WORKERS AS THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE

Limpopo MEC for Health Ms Dieketseng Mashego addresses Department of Health staff at the GBVF Awareness Campaign, Head Office Auditorium, Thursday 4 June 2026. Under the theme “Be the Change! Be the Voice! Be the Protector! Stop GBVF”, the MEC mobilised health workers to become frontline defenders against gender-based violence.

POLOKWANE | 4 June 2026 — Gender-Based Violence and Femicide is not a number on a spreadsheet. It is a wildfire. It consumes homes, devours generations, and scars the conscience of a nation.

Today, MEC for Health in Limpopo, Ms Dieketseng Mashego, refused to watch it burn unchecked. In the Head Office Auditorium, she drew a hard line in the ash and turned thousands of Department of Health workers into a firebreak — a living barrier of steel, scrubs and conviction that GBVF will not cross.

“Be the Change! Be the Voice! Be the Protector! Stop GBVF” was not a slogan for a banner. It was a battle order. Delivered by an MEC who will not manage tragedy from a boardroom while survivors bleed in her wards.

While the country counts losses, MEC Mashego counted troops. While others debate, she deployed. If GBVF is the blaze, then under her leadership Limpopo Health is the line it dies on.

Addressing employees and stakeholders, MEC Mashego spoke with the weight of someone who sees the damage daily and refuses to accept it.

“Health workers see the scars first,” she said. “You see them in casualty at 2am. You hear them in maternity wards. You dress the wounds GBVF leaves behind. But dressing wounds is not enough. Today we stop the blade. Today we break the cycle. Today we end the silence.”

The campaign reaffirmed the Limpopo Department of Health’s commitment under MEC Mashego’s stewardship: workplaces and communities free from violence, abuse and discrimination. Bophelo will no longer only heal the aftermath. It will prevent the attack.

“Be the change when silence is easier,” the MEC urged. “Be the voice when speaking costs you. Be the protector when no one is watching. In Limpopo, our hospitals will not be corridors for survivors to pass through. They will be fortresses where dignity is defended.”

MEC Mashego led from the front with government and civil society aligned shoulder to shoulder: Head of Department Dr Ndwamato N, Deputy Director-General Mawasha, Acting DDG Ntjana, Pastor Nemaukhwe, Adv. Shibambo, the Ambassador Against GBVF from Correctional Services, and senior representatives from SAPS and Correctional Services.

Health, law enforcement, corrections, faith and legal leadership — all standing behind one MEC, one mandate, one mission. That is what a robust, whole-of-government response looks like. That is how you cut oxygen to a wildfire.

MEC Mashego’s message rewrites the job description. If you treat the trauma, you must also disrupt the violence that causes it. If you comfort survivors, you must also confront perpetrators through reporting, referral and partnership.

Today every nurse, doctor, paramedic, administrator and cleaner left that auditorium with expanded purpose. Caregiver, yes. But also guardian. Clinician, yes. But also sentinel. Employee, yes. But above all, protector.