Bay residents march to City Hall for sex offenders' list to be made public

Residents marching from Kings Beach to the Port Elizabeth City Hall at the weekend called for the sexual offenders’ list to be made public.

The marchers wore mainly black and carried placards that read: “Am I next”, “Hands off our women” and “Stop abusing us”. One of the organisers, Gershwin Williams, said the aim was to send a clear message that everyone had had enough.

“I wasn’t going to wait until something happens to someone close to me or one of my relatives before I stand up.

“The last two weeks in this country has been emotionally draining for me.

“I have a daughter who lives in Cape Town,” Williams said.

The march follows the death of several women in September, including former Makhanda schoolgirl and University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana, who was brutally murdered at the Clareinch post office.

“This could happen to anyone,” Williams said.

“My daughter is picked up and dropped off at school not by her mother, but by her school transport.

“Anything can happen during those trips.

“I also have a sister and a grandmother who live alone.”

Williams said they were disappointed mayor Mongameli Bobani had not been on hand to receive a memorandum – instead it was received by an official from his office.

“In the memorandum we requested more visible policing, especially at schools and at higher education institutions, because that is where our women are targeted.”

He said with regard to the National Register for Sex Offenders, the people of the Bay needed to know who was on the list.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has said the register would be overhauled.

Bobani said on Sunday he had been unaware of the march.

“I am very unhappy about the amateurish way the administrators in my office handled the receipt of the petition.

“I would like to unreservedly apologise to the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay, as I was neither briefed about the event nor given an opportunity to address the concerned marchers myself,” Bobani said.

“Under no circumstances would I have allowed an official to receive the petition on my behalf at a gathering of national importance.”