against women
Colleen Lowe Morna
It is an indictment of all of us that Women’s Day 1997 should be celebrated in the shadow of Mamokgethi Malebane’s grave. The slaying of this seven-year-old a day before she was to testify against her self- confessed rapist is not only about the inadequacies of our bail laws; it is about the failure of our society to deal with gender-based violence.
As we are often reminded by psychologists, rape is not about rampant sexual desire, but an assertion of power. No aspect of gender inequality is more reflective of the glaring gap between rhetoric and reality than the escalation of the crime at the very moment that we are shaping a new society based on principles of equality and human rights.
The South African Constitution is one of the few in the world to explicitly outlaw discrimination based on gender. How does one square this with a 1994 Interpol survey showing that South Africa has the highest incidence of reported rape in the world?
The South African Police Service estimates that only one out of 35 rape cases is reported. In March, Minister of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi announced that serious crimes had declined in nine out of 20 categories. Rape was one of the categories in which there had been an increase.
Historically, violence against women has been viewed as a “problem” rather than a “crime”: a matter to fester behind closed doors.
To the credit of Deputy Minister of Justice Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who has spearheaded an awareness-raising campaign on violence against women, the issue is receiving more profile and attention than in the past.
But the justice system continues to send out confusing messages. On the one hand, we have the strong statement made by Chief Justice Ismail Mahomed upholding a stiff sentence meted out to a Cape Town rapist: “The time has come for this court to say that the women of South Africa are entitled to walk the streets of the country in peace.” Yet within weeks, the same court system fails a seven-year-old girl.
There was a sense of dj vu when Minister of Justice Dullah Omar announced at Malebane’s funeral that he would tighten bail laws to prevent a repeat of the tragedy. One remembers a certain justice minister who said similar words, and specifically pledged to protect the girl child, after the rape of two sisters in Observatory, Johannesburg, early in the new year.
It has struck me that no matter what changes are made to our criminal justice system, the ultimate answer lies in all South African – but especially the men – saying “No more”.
The National Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition, in partnership with Agisanang, an NGO which has spearheaded the drive to involve men in the fight to eradicate violence against women, is planning a major march against violence on November 24, the eve of International Day of No Violence Against Women.
It is too late for Mamokgethi. But is it too late for the rest of South Africa?
— Colleen Lowe Morna is an adviser to the Commission on Gender Equality
01