‘Am I next?’ ‘My body is not a crime scene!’. These are some of the words that adorned the banners and signs held high by protesters in South Africa following an incident that occurred in July this year. One fateful afternoon, a crew of 22 people in South Africa was filming a gospel music video at an abandoned mine in Krugersdorp, a town in the Gauteng province of South Africa. In the midst of their activities, a group of men brandishing guns attacked the group and brutally raped eight of the women.
This heartbreaking story unfortunately is not a unique incident in the country. The rate of sexual violence in South Africa is among the highest in the world. In 2019, 41,583 rape cases were reported in South Africa. In 2020, the figure rose to 42, 289. A university student by the name of Uyinene Mrwetyana was raped and killed in August 2019 in a post office in Cape Town. A 17-year-old girl named Anene Booysen was gang-raped, disemboweled, and left to die in the Western Cape province in 2013. The stories go way back, the list of names continuously multiplying.
Rape affects the victims physically and psychologically. They face the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Psychologically, they develop a mistrust of people and an inability to form meaningful relationships. They also often face depression, anxiety, and sometimes stigmatization in their communities which has negative impacts on their mental health.
Rape is an abuse of human rights. It makes a person feel small and helpless as it is a violation of their person and dignity. The survivors of the Krugersdorp brutality narrated their experience a few weeks later and the pain was clear in their words. They recounted how they tried to run, pleaded, and lied to protect themselves. All their pleas fell on deaf ears. One survivor recounts when she tried to make a break for it, a gun was pressed against her temple, and was left with no choice but to surrender.
Amid the cries of the people, the government of South Africa must put an end to the brutality perpetuated against women. The strategies currently in place such as the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide have done little to protect women in South Africa as the Krugersdorp mass assault took place early this year. This is because society needs to come together to do away with the patriarchal social norms and gender inequalities that plague the country. The government also needs to direct more resources to the eradication of GBV. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, there was a lack of adequate funding for shelters, resources, and other necessities for gender-based violence survivors.
We need to do away with rape culture not only in South Africa but also in the world as a whole. It is sad to think women and girls walk down the streets in fear of what lies ahead. Dealing with the perpetrators is not enough because there should not be any perpetrators in the first place. We need a strong and firm solution to do away with rape in our society today and always.
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