Cameras needed at taxi ranks

Johannesburg police are still looking for the perpetrators of a violent sexual assault on a woman inside a Johannesburg taxi rank last weekend.

Nwabisa Ngcukana (25) was stripped naked, had alcohol poured on her head and was sexually assaulted at the Noord Street taxi rank — apparently because she was wearing a miniskirt.

Firoz Cachalia, Gauteng MEC for Community Safety, moved swiftly to condemn the attacks at a press briefing this week, saying that a democratic society meant that women should be free to dress as they please.

Lisa Vetten of the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, a legal services unit that deals with violence against women, feels the incident ‘reflects many women’s daily experiences on the streets of South Africa. It is an issue that must be addressed.”

Johannesburg Metro Police spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said representatives from various taxi associations, as well as six queue marshalls, had met police to offer their cooperation in efforts to identify and apprehend the perpetrators.

While the city has closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras to monitor these public offences, this attack went unrecorded.

Neville Hudson of Omega Risk Solutions, which is contracted to set up CCTV cameras within the CBD, said his company had been directed to install cameras in streets and ‘open areas”, but the Noord Street rank is under cover and thus unmonitored.

Vetten questions this policing strategy, saying that cameras should cover all populated public spaces such as transport nodes and parks. ‘[Those] closed spaces are high risk areas for rape.”

When asked whether CCTV cameras would be installed inside the taxi rank, Minnaar replied that the equipment was expensive, adding ‘that is something to be debated to see if it is necessary or if this is a once-off thing”.

‘They’re trying to teach these girls a lesson’

It starts as soon as you step into the Noord Street taxi rank: Psst … heita — my sister— woza la (come here).

For any young African woman, public spaces are places where we can expect to get lewd comments, vulgar gestures and be groped on a daily basis. While it was outrageous, it wasn’t entirely unexpected when a Mail & Guardian reporter researching this article had a commuter grab at her breasts.

Even though it is business as usual at the mammoth rank, there is still an air of tension and no one wants to be photographed. Few people want to be seen talking to us.

A group of taxi drivers was quick to warn us about asking questions: ‘You should not go to certain parts of this rank. We are not all the same — some people react violently to situations, some of these taxi drivers are intolerant to being questioned by women,” said taxi driver Sipho Dladla.

‘I believe the attack on the woman was wrong and I’m against that, but I believe women should dress in a proper manner. Women should wear skirts that are below the knees in public. It’s fine in your own house, but don’t go and provoke men in the streets by wearing unsuitably short skirts,” said Dladla.

Muzi Zwane, also a taxi driver at the rank, said: ‘I do not understand why any woman would wear a short skirt. Women should respect their bodies and not flaunt them around taxi ranks or any other public areas.”

‘This is not a cultural issue — we cannot say it is a Zulu thing or a Xhosa thing, it’s about respect. I was taught by my parents that a woman’s skirt should be below the knees and that is how my wife and I have raised my daughters,” said Sakhile Thabethe.

Lucky Mhlongo feels taxi drivers get a bad rap: ‘We cannot blame it so easily on taxi drivers, it could be anyone at the rank or outside the rank. I have seen women walk in here asking for help after they were mugged or harassed outside the rank, but once the story breaks, it is automatically blamed on the taxi drivers.”

The women we approached for comment were more reticent and we were able to convince only one to comment:

‘Sometimes, even as a woman, I feel some women are dressed in inappropriately short skirts. I do not believe what happened to the woman was right, but I do realise why they did it … they try to teach these girls a lesson to respect their bodies. I am sure they will never forget,” said Monica Ngobese, a commuter at the rank. — Nosimilo Ndlovu and Zodidi Mhlana