Guilty as charged!

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Guilty as charged!

On April 6, 2010, in Gender equality, Post-rape care, by Neritia Van Zyl

On behalf of all the women of South Africa, especially those who have been directly affected by gender based violence: a big applause to everyone at Sonke Gender Justice Network – we salute you! There are few things in life as beautiful and awe inspiring as a group of courageous men standing up for the rights of women. In a country with extraordinary high levels of gender violence it is a victory that will bring hope and much needed belief in the South African judicial system.

The journey started on 22 January 2009: while addressing 150 Cape Peninsula University of Technology students Julius Malema, ANC Youth League president, suggested that the woman who accused ANC president Jacob Zuma of rape had a “nice time” with him and said, “when a woman didn’t enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money.”

During March 2009: our partner, Sonke Gender Justice Network took action in response to ANC Youth League President Julius Malema statements by taking the matter to the Equality Court. Sonke said that they believe that Malema’s statements reinforce rape myths and that they constitute hate speech, unfair discrimination and harrassment.

On 15 March 2010: “The Johannesburg Equality Court on Monday ruled that Julius Malema is guilty of hate speech, has no protection in terms of freedom of speech provisions, denigrated women in general, added to the rape problem in South Africa, and must apologise.” The Daily Maverick Malema was also ordered to pay R50 000 to People Opposing Women Abuse .

Follow the link and watch a snippet of the case here: Sonke Gender Justice takes Julius Malema to the Equality Court .

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Two weeks ago, on International Women’s Day (8 March), a woman was assualted by two men outside the gates of a huge corporate company in South Africa. One guy approached her for sex, upon refusal he started to slap her around. She lost her temper and slapped him back. As she tried to run away his mate joined him and together they smashed her head and face into a pulp with a brick. The story did not make it to the evening news, nor will you read about it in the newspaper. I know of the story only because I [sadly] know both of the men. It was just one more case of unreported gender violence in a country with hundreds of similar stories. One of the guys were apprehended and spent two nights in jail…R500 bail money was enough to get him out!

The sad and shocking part of this story is that nobody stood up for the girl, nobody bothered to help her. She got into a taxi and “dissapeared” from the face of the earth! Another statistic, another broken women!

Preventing gender based violence is one of our main goals here at South Africa Project – Time for Ubuntu. Together with organisations such as Sonke Gender Justice Network we believe that we can and will make a difference to the lives of women who are affected by gender based violence on a daily basis.

The ruling of 15 March 2010, by the Johannesburg Equality Court, is a definate step in the right direction!

Julius Malema in the meantime indicated that he will appeal against the ruling…!

The videos underneath show the buildup towards the court case and a small group of people celebrating the win afte the ruling. The first video also introduces the leaders of Sonke and gives you an idea of what they are working on.