Advocacy organisation WomensNet is disappointed by the lack of response from mobile providers to a request for free cellphone calls to anti-gender-violence and AIDS help-lines.
Last month, WomensNet, Gender Links and Nisaa partnered with LifeLine Southern Africa to urge Cell C, Vodacom, Virgin Mobile and MTN to declare these help-lines an essential service, with calls to them being free.
The initiative was to be part of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women, says WomensNet executive director Sally-Jean Shackleton. The campaign ended this week.
"The silence from the cellphone providers [to the request] was deafening. We approached them in writing and through calls and they didn`t respond. It was very disappointing."
Enabling access
Shackleton says traffic to these help-lines doubles during the "16 Days" campaign, as more people who are in abusive relationships seek help.
LifeLine Southern Africa, which runs these services, receives up to 700 calls a day on the stop-gender-violence help-line and up to 3 000 calls in total on the AIDS help-line, she says.
Telkom already supports the help-lines, making calls from fixed-lines free, she says. This means it is too expensive for those who have a cellphone, but cannot access a Telkom phone to call the help-lines, she notes.
"I do understand that the mobile providers already have social responsibility projects they are committed to, and of course we appreciate these initiatives, but we need everyone to take drastic steps to address the problem of gender violence," she says.
Doing their bit
Vodacom head of corporate communications Nicolene Visser previously noted the mobile provider uses cellphone technology as a tool for HIV care-givers across SA.
The technology is used to manage the administration of anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive people, through CellLife, a non-profit organisation, she said.
Cell C also has a number of social responsibility initiatives, including "Take a Girl Child to Work Day" and a development fund that is supported through the purchase of Zola 7 prepaid cards. Proceeds are donated to a selected non-profit organisation.
The MTN Foundation also has a number of connectivity initiatives, including a school connectivity project, whereby the mobile operator installs multimedia centres in schools.
Alternative solutions
Shackleton says the organisations will continue to lobby mobile providers for free cellphone calls for these services. The organisations are running a petition campaign, soliciting up to 10 000 signatures to support their request for free cellphone calls. To date, the petition has 568 signatures.
She says the organisations will also look at other strategies, including lobbying for the Universal Service Fund to fund access to the help-lines.
They will also look into the possibility of these help-lines forming part of the 112 emergency services, as defined by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), she says.
"But that would be a long-term goal. The national emergency phones are not going to be available soon, as I understand ICASA is still drafting the regulations."
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