In Conversation With Nkosinathi Moshoana - CEO of Primestars and Executive Head of What about the boys
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South Africa continues to grapple with one of the highest rates of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in the world, with women and children disproportionately affected by abuse, assault, and violence across communities. While government and civil society have invested heavily in criminal justice responses, shelters, awareness campaigns, and policy frameworks, many experts argue that the country cannot “arrest its way out” of the crisis.
Increasingly, attention is shifting toward prevention — particularly the social norms, behaviours, and gender expectations young people inherit long before violence occurs.
This conversation comes as Primestars and The YouthStart Foundation launched What About The Boys 2 (WATB2), an expanded national youth intervention programme aimed at addressing harmful gender norms among both boys and girls. The initiative builds on the first phase of the programme launched in 2022, which reportedly reached more than 60 000 boys in over 180 schools nationally and showed measurable reductions in bullying and violence-supportive attitudes.
The new phase introduces a dual-gender approach, bringing boys and girls together into shared learning spaces to challenge stereotypes around masculinity, emotional expression, dominance, silence, consent, and relationships.
The programme also signals growing recognition from government departments, educators, businesses, and civil society that preventing GBV requires earlier intervention in schools, communities, and youth spaces — not only reacting once violence has already happened.
A major development announced at the launch was a partnership with the Department of Higher Education and Training to expand the programme into universities, TVET colleges, and tertiary institutions. This comes amid growing concern about violence, toxic masculinity, mental health struggles, bullying, and unsafe campus environments affecting young people across South Africa.
Increasingly, attention is shifting toward prevention — particularly the social norms, behaviours, and gender expectations young people inherit long before violence occurs.
This conversation comes as Primestars and The YouthStart Foundation launched What About The Boys 2 (WATB2), an expanded national youth intervention programme aimed at addressing harmful gender norms among both boys and girls. The initiative builds on the first phase of the programme launched in 2022, which reportedly reached more than 60 000 boys in over 180 schools nationally and showed measurable reductions in bullying and violence-supportive attitudes.
The new phase introduces a dual-gender approach, bringing boys and girls together into shared learning spaces to challenge stereotypes around masculinity, emotional expression, dominance, silence, consent, and relationships.
The programme also signals growing recognition from government departments, educators, businesses, and civil society that preventing GBV requires earlier intervention in schools, communities, and youth spaces — not only reacting once violence has already happened.
A major development announced at the launch was a partnership with the Department of Higher Education and Training to expand the programme into universities, TVET colleges, and tertiary institutions. This comes amid growing concern about violence, toxic masculinity, mental health struggles, bullying, and unsafe campus environments affecting young people across South Africa.
