Archbishop Buti Joseph Tlhagale of Johannesburg in South Africa is warning men will be held accountable for the abuses they have committed against women.

The archbishop was speaking August 9 at a homily to mark this year’s National Women’s Day.

“The Son of God will make us pay for all the things we have done, or not done,” the archbishop said, as he bemoaned the abuses by men against women.

Tlhagale reminded his congregation of the deep love young people always have for their mothers, and wondered why such love can’t be extended to all women at all times.

“Young men, young women who grew up in the four-roomed houses throughout South Africa, I bet also in other places around the world, young men, young women who grew up in informal settlements, they all have a dream to build their mothers a house, or to extend the house, or to put a toilet in the house and not outside, so that their mothers don’t have to walk out at night,” he said.

He said he cannot place a handle on what suddenly goes wrong, particularly with men, that they can’t show the same love, attachment, respect and a sense of dignity towards other women as they have for their mothers.

“Why do we grow to become such animals towards women, when in fact, we’ve got this great love for our mothers?” Tlhagale said.

The archbishop said he couldn’t understand men “who fall in love and stay with a woman for five years, or even more. And when there’s conflict in the family, the man beats up the wife.”

“Somebody you’ve been praising, and adoring, and kneeling before, suddenly the wife is the worst enemy on earth. Not only are they insulted, they are even chased out of the house, and even killed. And so, femicide is so common in South Africa,” he explained.

In a report last year, Genocide Watch quotes statistics from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development as saying that it handles over 50,000 cases of gender-based violence and femicide in the country annually. Between April 2020 and September 2022, 988 women were killed in South Africa, according to the country’s Police Service.

The report cites some of the victims revealing the traumas they suffered due to gender-based violence.

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