Thuli Nhlapo and Evidence wa ka Ngobeni As the nation was celebrating the 44th anniversary of National Women’s Day this week, some women across the country were being sexually assaulted and others gang-raped.
Women’s rights organisations have expressed outrage at incidents of rape on the public holiday reported at police stations around the country. The women’s organisations say the rape incidents are a setback to Women’s Day, which is supposed to raise awareness of the plight of South African women and to uphold their contribution to the liberation struggle. While a crowd of more than 3 000 people gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, a woman was being assaulted and gang-raped three streets away. The woman, a 19-year-old from Soshanguve township near Pretoria, was raped by three men at Jacob Mare Street. The Pretoria incident coincided with President Thabo Mbeki’s speech at the Union Buildings calling for the participation of women in the country’s economy. Mbeki also unveiled a monument during the gathering in honour of 20E000 women who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 to protest against apartheid’s pass laws. Also on Women’s Day, a 16-year-old from Mamelodi was raped at Mandela Village, an informal settlement east of Pretoria. Police say the suspect assaulted and forced the young woman to lie naked on a concrete railway line as he repeatedly raped her. The young woman, who sustained bruises in the attack, has been referred to the Pretoria child protection unit, which is investigating the case. The rape incidents highlight the work that still needs to be done to change public attitudes, said Palesa Makhetha, representative of the National Network on Violence against Women. “We believe that women’s organisations need to start focusing on proactive measures rather than the reactive approaches that they have adopted in other to deal with this crisis,” she said. Several women were also raped in Johannesburg. Two women, including a 22-year-old were raped and others assaulted in Hillbrow and Ferndale. In Soweto, two girls – between the ages of 12 and 14 – were raped. North West and the Western Cape reported two and one rape incidents respectively. In other provinces police refused to release rape details following a directive from National Commissioner Jackie Selebi preventing the issuing of police statistics.