Chairperson, hon members, our debate is focusing on the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. This is a national campaign which focuses primarily on generating an increased awareness of the negative impact of violence on women and children, as well as society at large.
The incidents of violence perpetrated against women and children and the youth remain unacceptably high in our country. Former Minister Charles Nqakula stated that crime conducted in the country indicated that social crime, particularly the abuse of women and children, is highly problematic. Due to time constraints I will not dwell on the crime statistics.
Okuhle ngalo mkhankaso ukuthi usibandakanya sonke thina zinhlanga zalapha nanoma siqhamuka kuliphi iqembu lezombusazwe. Kuyinto enhle kakhulu le ngoba udlame olubhekiswe komama kanye nabantwana luyinto enzima kakhulu futhi ebuhlungu. Yingakho-ke kubalulekile ukuthi lo mkhakaso siwuphathise okwezikhali zamantungwa.
Lo mkhankaso siwusebenzisa njengelinye lamacebo ethu okuqeda udlame nokuhlukunyezwa komama nakubantwana. Ake sibuke into eyenzeke ngomhlaka 24 Okthoba kuwo lonyaka lapho kwabakhona abantu asebephelelwe unembeza ngoba bakwazi ukunukubeza umntwana oneminyaka eyisikhombisa kuphela baze bashabalalisa impilo yakhe imbala. Lokhu kwenzeke khona lapha eduze nathi. Lokhu kukhombisa ukucekelwa phansi kwamalungelo abantwana ngabantu abanezinhliziyo ezilukhuni ngendlela engelinganiswe nalutho. Abacwaningi bathi njalo emahoreni ayisithupha kubulawa owesifazane yilowo asuke ethandana naye. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[What is good about this campaign is that it involves everyone - this country's different racial groups irrespective of political affiliation. And this is a very good thing as violence against women and children is a very difficult and painful thing. That is why it is very important that we handle this campaign with the urgency it deserves.
We use this campaign as one of our strategies for eliminating violence against women and children. Let us look at what happened on 24 October this year when people who do not have a conscience sexually abused and even killed a child who was only seven years old. This has happened close to us here. This is the cruellest violation of children's rights perpetrated by the meanest people we have ever seen. The researchers say that every six hours a woman is killed by her partner.]
The campaign raises awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at local, national, regional and international levels. It also strengthens local work around violence against women. It establishes a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women and children. It provides a forum in which organisers can develop and share new and more effective strategies. It also demonstrates the solidarity of women around the world standing up against violence against women and children. It creates tools to put pressure on ourselves as government to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women and children.
Uma thina njengohulumeni sibeka uMthetho othile, lowo Mthetho usuke uyisu noma uyicebo lokulungisa izihibe noma izingqinamba ezimpilweni zabantu abathile. Thina-ke siyingxenye yaleNdlu sigixabezwe ngamandla okulandela ukuphenya, ukubuza kanye nokubheka ngeso lokhozi uma kunezinkomba zokuthi uMthetho obekiwe awuzifezi izinhloso zawo. Phela eyethu indaba icace bha kuhle kwekati elimhlophe ehlungwini. Eyethu indaba ukushintsha izimpilo zabantu zibe ngcono kunalokho eziyikho.
Ake ngithathe lomkhankaso esingawo namuhla ngiwuqhathanise nenhloso yecebo esalibopha eminyakeni eyishumi eyedlule - uMthetho Wokuhlukunyezwa Wasekhaya. Ngiyavuma ukuthi lo Mthetho ngeke ube nazo zonke izimpendulo zezinkinga esibhekene nazo. Kuyavela nokho ukuthi lo Mthetho awukwenzi ngokwanele lokhu obekelwe khona. Lokhu kusho ukuthi thina singamalungu aleNdlukazi sihlale phansi siwucubungule kabusha. Yikona-ke lokhu okuholele ekutheni ikomidi eliphathelene nomama, abantwana, intsha nabantu abaphila nokukhubazeka libone isidingo sokuba nembizo izolo nanamuhla ukuze sikwazi ukuhlanganisa amakhanda nalabo abathintekile.
Ake sibheke lezi zihibe ezidala ukuthi lo Mthetho ungasebenzi: Ingabe izinsiza zanele ukwenza lo Mthetho usebenze kahle? Ingabe amaphoyisa ethu aqeqeshwe ngokwanele ngalo Mthetho? Ingabe umhlukunyezwa uvikelekile kulezi zinswelaboya? Ingabe abesifazane abangamaphoyisa basetshenziswa ngokwanele ekubhekeleleni ngokusebenza kwalo Mthetho? Ingabe lo Mthetho ubhalwe ngezilimi eziqondwa abantu? Ingabe yonke iminyango engenelele iyakwazi yini efanele ikuphonse esivivaneni ukuze lo Mthetho usebenze na? Uhla lude kungashona ilanga.
Iminyango yonke ethintekayo iyacelwa ngokuzithoba ukuthi ibhukule, izibophe ziqine izinkalo ukuze lo Mthetho usebenze. Sikhuluma ngale Minyango elandelayo: UMnyango Wamaphoyisa, oWezobulungiswa, oWezempilo kanye noWezokuthuthukiswa Komphakathi njalo njalo. Ngiyaphinda futhi ngiqhathanisa umkhankaso esingawo nelinye icebo lethu esilibiza nge-SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. Leli cebo ngelihle ngendlela emangalisayo lapho i-Southern African Development Community i-SADC ngamafishane isho ngazwi linye futhi izibophezela ngokulwa nodlame olubhekiswe komama nasebantwaneni. Ake ngithinte Isigaba sesi-3 sezinhloso zalosomqulu. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[If as a government we propose a certain Act, that Act is a plan or a strategy for correcting the wrongs in or removing obstacles from the lives of certain groups of people. And we, as part of this House, are given the authority to monitor, to investigate, and to find answers to certain issues and to scrutinise those if there is an indication that an Act that was proposed does not fulfil its objectives. Our mandate is crystal clear. Our mandate is to improve people's lives.
Let me take the campaign which we are discussing here today and compare it with our strategic objectives that we committed ourselves to 10 years ago - the Domestic Violence Act. I know that this Act won't have all the answers to all the problems we are facing. It is evident though that this Act is not doing enough in terms of fulfilling its objectives. This means that we, as the members of this august House, need to sit down and look at it again. This is what prompted the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities to arrange an imbizo which was held yesterday and today so that we can put our heads together with the concerned people.
Let us look at the obstacles that cause this Act to be ineffective: Are there enough facilities for the successful implementation of this Act? Are our police officers well informed about this Act? Are the victims protected from the criminals? Are our female police officers sufficiently deployed in overseeing the effective implementation of this Act? Is this Act written in a language that is understood by the people? Are the departments concerned aware of what they are supposed to do in order for this Act to work? The list is endless - I can spend the whole day on this.
All the departments concerned are humbly requested to pull themselves together, and to take it upon themselves to see to it that this Act is effective. The departments we are referring to are the following: the Department of Police, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, the Department of Health, the Department of Social Development, and others. I compare the campaign we are discussing with our other strategy, which is called the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. This is a wonderful strategy because the Southern African Development Community - SADC in short - pronounced in one voice that it is committed to fighting violence against women and children. Let me quote Article 3 of the objectives of this document.]
It is to provide for the empowerment of women, to eliminate discrimination and to achieve gender equality through the development and implementation of gender-responsive legislation, policies, programmes and projects. It is also to harmonise the implementation of the various instruments to which SADC member states have subscribed at regional, continental and international level on gender equality and equity, which, among others, are the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. For the sake of time, I will not mention all the protocols that are in place.
Other objectives are to address emerging gender issues and concerns; set realistic, measurable targets, timeframes and indicators for achieving gender equality and equity; strengthen, monitor and evaluate the progress made by member states towards reaching the targets and goals set out in the protocol, and to deepen regional integration, attain sustainable development and strengthen community-building.
Sengiphetha Sihlalo, ngibonga izinhlangano zemiphakathi, izinhlangano ezingekho ngaphansi kukahulumeni (NGOs), izinhlangano ezifana ne-ANCWL kanye nazo zonke engingazibalanga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[In conclusion, Chairperson, I am thankful to the community organisations, the organisations which do not receive government funding, namely NGOs, organisations such as the ANCWL and all the other organisations that I have not mentioned here ...]
... for creating a worldwide social conscience on the negative impact, both on social and economic life, of violence against women, and also for urging that programmes be put in place by other departments throughout the year to create an ongoing awareness.
Kolabo baba abavamise ukuba phambili ekuhlukunyezweni kwabesifazane sithi kubo mabashintshe indlela yokuziphatha futhi mabazi ukuthi siyabathanda futhi siyabahlonipha. Nathi ngokunjalo sifuna ukuthandwa nokuhlonishwa ukuze isithunzi sethu sihlale sivikelekile njalo.
Obaba abazithola besenkingeni yokuhlukunyezwa noma ngabe yingayiphi indlela sithanda ukuthi bazi ukuthi nabo bayingxenye yazakhamuzi zaseMzansi. Lo Mthetho ebengikhuluma ngawo uyabavikela nabo, ngakho-ke siyabanxusa ukuthi babe nesibindi, baphumele obala bangafeli ngaphakathi kuhle kwebutho likaShaka. Ngiyabonga kakhulu. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[To those men who are always at the forefront in abusing women, we would like to say that they need to change their ways and they must know that we love and respect them. We also need to be loved and respected so that our dignity can always be protected.
As for those men who find themselves in an abusive situation anyway, we would like them to know that they too are part of the South African citizenry. They too are protected by the same Act I was referring to. Therefore, we are pleading with them to be courageous and to come out in the open and not die a silent death like King Shaka's army. Thank you very much.]
Chair and members, I spent yesterday in a public hearing dealing with the Domestic Violence Act. It was a harrowing experience listening to the sad accounts of what has happened in women's lives, and I'm sorry that our Minister isn't here today to listen to our debate.
It is obvious that gender-based violence is destroying individuals and communities. South Africa has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world in which all citizens are protected and entitled to basic necessities as well as having freedom of movement, expression, religious or sexual orientation. Pregnant women are provided with free health care and the right to terminate pregnancy. There are laws which make marital rape and violence illegal; laws which amend patriarchal customary traditions to ensure that women do not become property in marriage. And yet, according to the Medical Research Council, South Africa has the highest femicide rate in the world, with one woman being killed by her intimate partner every six hours. It also has the highest rape statistics for a country not at war, but the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders, Nicro, estimates that only one in 20 cases of rape are actually reported. Of reported cases, only 7% are successfully prosecuted.
According to the annual report of the SA Police Service for 2008-09, the number of crimes committed against women totalled 188 425. That's 516 crimes against women per day. Although acts of violence against women occur across all socioeconomic, racial and cultural divides, poverty is an important factor in gender equality. Financial dependence, as well as a lack of access to education and resources often trap women in violent and oppressive relationships. Entrenched patriarchal beliefs, the stigma surrounding abused women, rape and HIV/Aids make these laws meaningless for many. This is one of the reasons why the 16 Days of Activism is so important. We need to draw attention to the underlying problems and find solutions.
The Constitution of South Africa is a document of transformation intended to address social and economic inequalities of the past, to reconstruct society, to transform the unequal power relations and eradicate all forms of discrimination. Unequal power relations lie at the heart of domestic violence. Women are expected to be sexually available and submissive. Woman lack economic, political, social and religious power and this leaves them vulnerable. Men are brought up to be tough, to fight and not to show their feelings. Mothers, bring up yours sons to show care and respect for others.
Fifty-three percent of women have no income and are totally dependent, so poverty has become feminised. Because of gender oppression, women do not appear to have the same value as men in society, so this makes men think that they have the right to beat women. Recognising these problems, government developed the Victims' Charter, providing the right to be treated with fairness, respect, dignity and privacy and the right to receive protection, assistance, restitution and compensation.
This was a great step forward, but in our hearings we've been told that this does not work in practice. We heard how victims have struggled to get the SAPS to respond, either because there's no vehicle available, or because the officer feels that the incident is a minor quarrel aggravated by alcohol abuse. Victims are not informed of their rights or advised about protection orders. It's also been said that women must have deserved the beatings because they've been lazy or cheeky. Statements are often taken down incorrectly, because the police officers cannot speak the language of the complainants.
In one case that I know of, this led to the perpetrator being charged with assault instead of rape, and he was released. No crime kit was issued to the victim; no medical examination for rape was performed, nor was material sent away for forensic testing. Where is justice? Communication is vital. Officers must be able to speak the language of the area. Is there anyone to interpret in sign language for the deaf? Are female officers available in cases like these? Police must be sensitised and properly trained. Budgets need to be revised so that vehicles can be provided and adequate services rendered to all. The headlines in Tuesday's Beeld read: "Polisie het my verkrag. Ma van drie is deur beamptes aangeval. Hoekom help die SAPD nie?" [Police raped me. Mother of three attacked by officers. Why does the SAPS not help?]
The report continues to tell how the woman, a mother of three, was raped and beaten and her husband attacked by the police, and then also cites reasons given by the police why they couldn't help the couple. This is scandalous. Police must enforce the laws of the land; protectors must not become predators. Of course, not all police are like that. There are many dedicated, good and caring officers, but the rest must be investigated and retrained. We must eradicate the scourge of violence and commit ourselves to strengthening the SAPS and the judiciary. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson and colleagues, Cope believes that it is that time again when we unite as a nation for 16 days to condemn, curse and rebuke the devil of violence directed at women and children which continuously shows its ugly face in our society at large.
Domestic violence against women and children is one of the most brutal consequences of the economic, social, political and cultural inequalities that exist between sexes; yet, strong concerns voiced by development agencies and policy-makers have only emerged in relatively recent years. There is no mention of subjects in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Cedaw, apart from a brief reference to human trafficking.
In launching his new 2008 campaign "Unite to end violence against women", the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, observed that at least one out of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. This is very traumatic and scary, but it is the reality that both women and children live to suffer from each day.
Many young women in this country have experienced violence, abuse, rape and sexual harassment, and these are the worst affected, but it is even worse when it comes to the scourge of HIV/Aids, which hits them hard, again. Daily they carry the scars of their suffering, often in solitary silence and without adequate counselling and support. They later vanish into their own shadows for fear of being judged and discriminated against.
The question that we should all answer is: When will these 16 Days of Activism bear results to the extent that men realise the gift that God gave this universe by creating women? Another question that we must answer is whether or not our society has accepted the cries, groans and screams of helpless and hopeless children who get kidnapped from playing fields and become subjected to the brutality and cruelty that a man can demonstrate. This is indeed a serious indictment on all of us. Cope acknowledges that both government and the organs of civil society may have responded as they should to confront these degrading and humiliating conditions facing our children and women, so that together we can build a better future. But, a more humane and caring society still needs to be built. More definitely still needs to be done and this year's 16 Days of Activism should begin to show and showcase those that are going to bear the fruits.
I stand here today to challenge all South African men to respect the dignity of women; to pay their dues in maintenance and other aspects; to let every man stop abusing a woman or a child.
Elabadala lithi, "Utata ngumakhi wesizwe, umama yintyatyambo yelizwe, umntwana yinkokheli yelizwe langomso". [The elders say, "A father is a nation-builder, a mother is a flower of the nation and a child is a future leader of the nation."]
Let us all stop the stereotypes and chauvinistic attitudes and let us build one society. [Applause.]
Chairperson, in describing liberalism, Alan Paton once said:
By liberalism I don't mean the creed of any party or any century. I mean a generosity of spirit, a tolerance of others, an attempt to comprehend otherness, a commitment to the rule of law, a high ideal of the worth and dignity of man, a repugnance for authoritarianism and a love of freedom.
Paton's words may have been uttered nearly half a century before our first democratic election, yet they evoke the spirit of humanity and tolerance which characterises our progressive Constitution and Bill of Rights.
It is with a sense of awe that one considers the success of our highly heterogeneous nation in internalising the sense of what it means to be a South African over 14 years since the dawn of democracy in our country. Moreover, we have made considerable progress in inculcating a human rights- based culture amongst our citizenry; one which forcibly speaks out against violence against women and children.
Yet, I am saddened to say today, as we debate 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, that even though we have been more vocal in our condemnation of violence against women and children, the truth is that very little progress has been made in halting violence against this section of our society.
South Africa is still home to high levels of violence against its women and children, despite having a world-renowned Constitution and a legislative overhaul that safeguards women's rights.
Unlike other crimes, victims of sexual offences and domestic violence are often highly stigmatised. Because far too many South Africans condone such violence, women often feel ashamed and remain silent. This leads to both rape and domestic violence being amongst the most underreported crimes in South Africa.
The abuse of our children has also become rife and endemic. I was shocked to read a report recently which said that the kidnapping and trafficking of children, child pornography and prostitution have become some of the biggest sources of revenue for gangs and syndicates in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
These findings follow a survey conducted by Molo Songololo, a nongovernmental organisation fighting against the abuse of children. The study, which looked at the trafficking of South African children for sexual purposes, found that children were often forced into prostitution by parents, family friends, gangs, syndicates and brothel owners. Girls between the ages of 12 and 16 years were the most vulnerable; they are abducted in broad daylight at shopping centres, taxi ranks and schools. The children are often gang-raped and forced into prostitution.
South Africa's greatest problem is that we do not have laws against human trafficking. We must take note of these comments and take urgent action.
I often ask myself how we as politicians, the elected representatives of the people of South Africa, allowed a situation to occur where criminals rob us of our children and turn them into slaves and prostitutes.
It is obvious that more needs to be done to ensure that the decisions taken here at Parliament, and the policy and plans that are implemented, have the desired effect and actually benefit the women and children of our country who are in desperate need of help.
This will not be achieved through legislation and policy alone. A change in attitude and a greater commitment are needed by all South Africans, in all communities across South Africa, if gender equality and respect for children's rights are to be achieved.
Momentum needs to be built from grass-roots level. Many of the stereotypes regarding those traditional roles of men and women are still prominent today and will persist and be passed on to future generations unless a concerted effort is made to change them.
The struggle for gender equality and children's rights in South Africa is a battle that is far from over. We must intensify our efforts and turn the tide against one of the most heinous crimes in the world - women and child abuse. Let us all start by making a difference today. Thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, year after year leading up to the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, we stand here and speak about all the atrocities that happen to them, but nothing ever changes. We hear the same speeches, the same statistics and put on the same concerned expressions, but nothing ever changes.
Almost every week we see stories in the media of women and children being raped and killed and it is clear that, as leaders and as a society, we have failed to protect the most vulnerable in our society.
So, surely, we can understand the frustration that led to an alleged rapist in the Eastern Cape who had been released on bail being stoned to death by a group of 38 women. These 38 women took the law into their own hands because they felt that we, as leaders, have failed them.
As a nation we have not even come close to turning the tide of this scourge of violence against the most vulnerable in our society and the ID believes that not only must women now stop covering their faces, but they must hit back and hit back hard.
These 16 days must not be used for the people of South Africa to relieve guilt and create media frenzies, but to find ways to put into place sustainable projects for the long term that will contribute significantly to a change in culture and mind-set.
As leaders sitting here today, we need to redouble our efforts because up until now we have failed to make a difference on the ground. Thank you.
Chairperson and hon members, my speech is on the impact of international treaties and instruments and I will cite a few examples.
Udlame olubhekiswe kubantu besifazane luyinto endala. Yimpica badala nje, endala kunolwandle futhi endala kunezintaba. Ayazi mingcele, ayazi mibala. Ziningi ke izinkomfa esezike zenzeka, zenzelwa khona ukuthi kuke kuxoxwe ngale ngwadla ebhekene nomhlaba.
Kulezi zinkomfa kuye kuvunyelwane ukuthi kuzokwenziya njani ukuze kubhekanwe nalezi zimo. Ukubala nje ezinye izindawo la kuke kwaba nezinkomfa khona: iseMexico ngo-1975, eCopenhagen ngo-1980, eNairobi ngo- 1985 nase Beijing ngo-1995, kodwa-ke zikhona nezinye izindawo eke yenzeka nakuzo. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Violence towards women has been in existence for a long time. It is a sticky situation, older than the sea and older than the mountains too. It knows neither boundaries nor colour. There are quite a number of conferences that have taken place to discuss this mystery facing the world.
In these conferences some agreements are reached on how to tackle these situations. Let me mention some of the places where these conferences took place: in Mexico in 1975, in Copenhagen in 1980, in Nairobi in 1985 as well as in Beijing in 1995, but there are other places as well.]
South Africa has signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Cedaw, the optional protocol as well as the Beijing Platform for Action, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, CRC, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to mention but a few. However, the SADC Optional Gender Protocol is still outstanding.
Women in Africa have used Cedaw and the Beijing platform as well as other human rights treaties to their advantage. Zambia ratified Cedaw in 1985. In 1991 it extended its bill of rights to cover sex discrimination. Sara Longwe, in the case of Lusaka International Hotel, which had a policy prohibiting women from entering a hotel unless accompanied by a man, took the case to the High Court. The High Court felt that the hotel was using an exclusionist policy which was discriminatory, and therefore ordered the country to have that scrapped.
In Botswana, in the case of Ms Unity Dow, she claimed that the Citizenship Act violated both constitutional and international law. The Appeals Court sited Cedaw in its opinion and invalidated the law as unconstitutional. In the case of E V Pastory in Tanzania and in the case of Venia Magaya in Zimbabwe, both were denied the right to own and dispose of land in their respective countries because they were women and equivalent to minors. The High Court held that the custom that denied women the right to own and dispose of land violated the bill of rights, Cedaw and other international treaties.
In Nigeria, in the case of Ugokwe, a local custom allowed a father to keep one of his daughters unmarried perpetually in his home to raise male children for him. The court found the custom to be discriminatory and violating the right to marry and to freedom of association, and thus declared the custom to be undesirable and unenforceable. Reference was made to Article 5 of Cedaw, which calls for the elimination of discriminatory practices.
South African women, like some of their continental counterparts, have to seriously consider using the tools of international and regional instruments in order to deal with violence against women in particular. This would include making it possible for the courts to begin to use Cedaw, so that they can fight their cases in line with the international treaties.
However, there are cases of violence against women inflicted by other women. For example, we are aware that in East Africa female genital mutilation is done and it is done by women to young women. But one of their kings, after reading Cedaw, felt that it was not fair for the women to do it and he made the enquiry that, if God put it there, why remove it now? So, he was talking around the custom and wondering why the women were doing it.
We are reading stories and we are hearing through television and other electronic media quite atrocious stories such as those about fathers who traffic their own daughters, and use them for sex slavery and procreation; and colonial systems with practical examples of trafficking, sex slavery and being used for exhibition purposes, as in the case of Sarah Baartman, whose remains were only returned to the country in 2002.
In countries which are war-torn and in which there are conflicts, children and women are exposed and endure all sorts of slavery, rape, infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted conditions, and they become pregnant and some of them are killed. About a week back two Sudanese women and a journalist were sentenced to 20 lashes and fined the equivalent of R780, allegedly for having committed an act of indecency by wearing pants at a party.
Muhammad Ali, the famous boxer, said: "I have one son and six mistakes", meaning that he had only one son and six daughters. This is equivalent to being verbally violent to his daughters. Both Cedaw and the Beijing Platform for Action should become staple items in the libraries of women politicians; but not only women politicians, of all politicians and key decision-making people at all levels. If the rights of women should be protected meaningfully, these treaties should be popularised are to also used, even in courts, to address the very issues that are affecting women.
From here, where do we go as a country to deal with the struggle within a struggle of meaningful liberation and empowerment of women in a new dispensation? This is a war. And we have to seriously lobby for wars as well to stop on the continent. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chair, Henry Kissinger once declared that the battle of the sexes will never be won as there is far too much fraternising with the enemy. [Laughter.] Okay, I'm sorry; I admit, I did find that funny. But, sadly, what is amusing on the surface has a dark side as large numbers of women in abusive relationships choose, over and over again, not to report their abuser and not to follow through with criminal procedures.
They stay in these abusive relationships for many reasons, including economic dependence, lack of alternative accommodation, fear, pressure from family to make it work and of course love and the hope that the man will change.
Violence against women is a common phenomenon in South Africa and it is on the rise, yet the exact levels are not known, particularly as a result of underreporting.
Although both men and women can be victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, it is primarily perpetrated by men against women. South African research shows the range of abuses women experience to be quite extensive, including physical, sexual, emotional and economic abuse, as well as stalking, forced isolation, intimidation, harassment, damage to property and other controlling behaviours.
A national study of female homicide in South Africa, as we heard earlier, found that a woman is killed by her intimate partner every six hours, making this the highest reported rate of intimate femicide in the world.
According to an SAPS report to the Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security in August 2008, a total of 50 497 cases of domestic violence were reported between July and December 2007, but only 23% resulted in criminal cases being opened. Eighteen percent of protection order applicants who participated in an interview reported being threatened with severe injury by their partners if they returned to court to finalise the orders. And 10% indicated that they suffered worse abuse after not proceeding with the court action.
The Domestic Violence Act of 1998 was implemented in 1999, and 10 years on justice in this area still evades us. Lax police and court record-keeping; mismanagement; ignorance of the Act; apathy and resistance to domestic violence as a priority crime; lost documents; lack of photocopiers and malfunctioning equipment continue to cause delays and backlogs.
Of course, the system doesn't always fail women and there are those who have received excellent service from the police. However, expectations placed on our overburdened and underresourced police and clerks of the court by the Act are clearly unattainable in the current circumstances.
Debates like this one today are important in highlighting this devastating reality. However, the ACDP would like to see parliamentary hearings taking place to review laws and other measures introduced to deal with gender- based violence and to assist in their effectiveness and impact on communities. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chair, acts of gender-based violence violate a number of principles in a person's life, including the right to life, equality and security of the person; equal protection under the law; and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatments. It is on the rise in the refugee camps, remote areas - everywhere; even in rural areas. Even those tasked with protecting and assisting, for example aid workers, are in some cases perpetrators of gender-based violence.
It is interesting to observe that the Domestic Violence Act places obligations on the SAPS to deal with domestic violence matters and yet fails to do the same in respect of courts, which have a more vital role to play in dealing with matters of violence. Gender-based violence has psychological, social, medical and legal implications.
In certain instances, it contributes to the erosion of the social and economic fabric of society as women and girls play an important role in the maintenance of local economies. All this can be prevented through broad- based programmes designed and implemented proactively with the full participation of all members of communities, especially those most vulnerable. Most often it is the work of local women's organisations that provide the most inspiring examples of efforts to combat gender-based violence.
South Africa has been hailed for its progressive Constitution that entrenches gender equality, and the number of women in Parliament has risen substantially since 1994, creating a formidable force for legislative change. Changing laws can be swift; changing the mind-set that often nullifies these impressive gains is another issue altogether.
In a country long sickened by frighteningly high levels of domestic violence, one of the greatest challenges facing South Africa is closing the gap between the rhetoric of gender equality and the reality on the ground.
The UCDP believes that a rocky road lies ahead and that although we cannot stop gender violence, we can start to minimise it by working together and making a difference in the lives of these battered women and children. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, let me start off by taking this opportunity to remind members about the contributions made and the role played by the women of our country to build this democracy that is failing them today. It should be understood that the 1956 Women's March to the Union Buildings was an action by South African women from all walks of life representing political, nonpolitical, rural, religious and other formations, who were driven by nothing else but the conviction of righteousness.
These women, regardless of their differences in colour or creed, and particular political affiliation, responded to the situation prevailing in the country then. They set an agenda for today's generation: to stand together and to continue fighting for what is right and just in our modern society. This struggle, therefore, can neither be a sectoral celebration nor can it be claimed by a single or particular body.
Motsamaisi wa dipuisano ya kgabane ha re ntse re tshwaya matsatsi a 16 mabapi le boitseko bo kgahlanong le tlhekefetso ya basadi le bana; bana naheng ena ya haeso ba ntse ba le ka mosing ka lebaka la molao wa bana oo sepheo sa ona ho tse ding tse ngata e neng ele ho ngodisa batho ba sa tshwanelang ho sebetsa le bana, empa ho fihlela ha honajwale molao ona ha o eso ka ba o fetiswa.
Karabelo ya Letona la Ntshetsopele ya Setjhaba le bontsha hore marangrang a elekteroniki a etsang hore lesedi lena le arolelwane le mafapha a kang la Toka le Ntshetsopele ya Molaotheo le Lefapha la Sepolesa a tla qala ho sebetsa nakong ya dilemo tse hlano. Hona ho bolela hore molao ona, o tla nka dilemo tse leshome hore o kene tshebetsong. Re le mokga wa DA re fumana sena haholo se sa amoheleha hobane seo re se bonang ha se taba ya hore ha re na tjhelete empa e le manganga a sepolotiki a ho se batle ho etsa mosebetsi. Mme ka ena nako ... [Kena hanong.] (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[Hon Chairperson, as we are busy celebrating the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, the children of our country still find themselves at a disadvantage as a result of a legislation whose purpose, among other things, is to register those individuals who are not supposed to work with children. But up until now this legislation has not been passed.
The response of the Minister of Social Development indicates that the network system that will allow for sharing of information between departments such as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Department of Police will only start working in the next five years. This means that this legislation will take 10 years before it is implemented. As the DA we find this totally unacceptable because according to our observation this is not because there is no money, but it is because of the political stubbornness of not wanting to perform some duties. Yet this is the time ... [Interjections.]]
Chairperson, we find it very difficult to follow the debate; there is no interpreting service. I hear that there is someone in the interpreting booth, but it seems that the person is unable to interpret. So, the members don't have the benefit of following what's being said. [Interjections.]
All right, we will follow up on that issue and just check what is happening. However, we will have to continue, and I hope that they are listening and they will catch up. [Interjections.]
There are interpreters in the booth, I understand, but they are battling to catch up with the speed of the member. We will then have to ask the member to slow down a bit so that the interpreters can catch up and indeed do the work. Let's see if we will still experience the same problem if the hon member slows down a bit. If so, then we will have to address the matter later. Hon member, I will be patient with you.
Motsamaisi wa dipuisano, taba ya bohlokwa ke hore ha re keng re bee bana pele. Re ke re tloheleng ho dulela ho inanatha ka ho potoloha ha metjha e fapaneng ya mmuso. Kamehla ho tlalehwa dinyewe tse ka bang mashome a tsheletseng tsa ho betwa ha bana diteitsheneng tse fapaneng tsa mapolesa naheng ena ya haeso. Ebang mekgatlo eo eseng ya mmuso le e meng e sebetsang ka bana e sa kgone ho fumana lesedi lena la bahlekefetsi, sena se bea bana tlokotsing mme sena se bolela hore re tla hlolwa ke ho lwantsha ntwa ya batho ba hlekefetsang bana naheng ya haeso.
Mmuso ke kgale o hulanya maoto tabeng ena, batho ba kgathetse jwale mme seo ba se batlang ke diketso. A molao ona o ke o qale ho sebetsa. Ke mohlolo o moholo hore re bolellwe hore rejisetara ya naha e mabapi le ditlolo tsa diketso tsa motabo e tla fumaneha feela ka selemo sa 2014. Sena se bolela hore ho tla be ho fetile dilemo tse pedi kamora tshepiso e neng e etswe ke Letona hore molao ona o tla ba teng ka Phupjane selemong sena. Taba ena e lokela hore e tshwelwe ka mathe ruri. (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[Mrs S P KOPANE: Chairperson, the most important issue is that we should put children first. We must stop beating about the bush about the different strategies of government. Every day there are about 60 child rape cases that are reported at different police stations in our country. If the nongovernmental organisations and others that work with children cannot find information on these child molesters, this puts the children in grave danger and it also means that we will be unsuccessful in the battle against people who abuse children in our country.
The government has been dragging its feet for too long on this issue and the people are fed up because what they want to see is action. This legislation must start working. It is really shocking to be told that the national register on sexual offenders will only be available in the year 2014. This then means that two years will have passed since the promise was made by the Minister that this legislation will be promulgated in June this year. This matter must be scoffed at indeed.]
Violence against women and children is a scourge in our country. It poses a significant threat to human rights and the development of women and girls. It is clear that women suffer a very high level of sexual assault, rape and domestic violence.
As we embark on activism against women abuse, we must never forget or ignore the fact that our women, mothers, sisters and girl-children are still faced with the challenges of poverty, unemployment and high sexual exploitation. In the workplace in particular, women are expected to provide sexual favours in exchange for better positions and benefits, are abused and used as sex objects and become victims of HIV/Aids.
The DA believes that people cannot take advantage of opportunities if their lives are under siege, if their rights are not respected by fellow citizens or if their vision is limited by fear. Yet the web of terror that crime throws over women and children is so strong and far-reaching that no one is unaffected by it.
Ha ke phethela, ke nako jwale ya hore basadi bohle ka ho fapana, haholoholo ba ditulong tsa boetapele, ba eme mmoho ho netefatsa hore maemo ana a ditaba a a ntlafatswa. Re lokela ho toboketsa bohlokwa ba thuto hore re hlole ho se tsebe ho bala le ho ngola ha basadi le ho se nkelwe hloohong hwa basadi. Re lokela ho tsepamisa maikutlo hodima ntlafatso ya banana le basadi metseng ya mahae.
Re lokela ho lwanela ditokelo tsa basadi le tshehetso malapeng, polokeho le tshireletseho, menyetla le phihlello ditshehetsong tsa bana hore basadi le bona ba ke ba lokolohe. Ba tle ba tsebe ho intshetsa pele ka mokgwa wa porofeshene. Re lokela ho aha Afrika ena kaofela mmoho re le setjhaba hore bana ba rona ba tle ba be le bokamoso bo tjhatsi, mme ebe naha eo e leng hore re le batho re tla hlomphana ka ho sa eng kae. Ke a leboha. [Mahofi.] (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[As I conclude, it is now time for all women in their various leadership positions to stand up together to ensure that this state of affairs is improved. We have to emphasise the importance of education so that we can overcome illiteracy among women as well as the fact that women are not taken seriously. We have to focus attention on the development of young girls and women in the rural areas.
We also have to fight for the rights of women to family support, safety and security, opportunities and access to child support in order for women to be unburdened, so that they can advance in their professional careers. We have to build all of Africa together as a nation so that our children should have a bright future. This should be a country where we always show respect to one another. I thank you. [Applause.]]
Order! I hope that things were better after the hon member slowed down. Those are the challenges we have to face.
Sihlalo, malungu abekekileyo, maqabane nezihlobo, bantu belizwe lakuthi, ndivumeleni ndinibulise ngale mva kwemini egameni loomama nabantwana abaphethwe gadalala. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[Ms N N SIBHIDA: Chairperson, hon members, comrades and friends, fellow countrymen, allow me to greet you this afternoon in the name of the abused women and children.]
Chairperson, hon Kopane, in her speech, forgot to mention that those women who marched in 1956 were led by the ANC. [Applause.]
I'm happy and honoured to address you in October, a month in which South Africans and people of the world celebrate the contribution of Oliver Tambo to the advancement of the cause of humanity.
Comrade O R, as he was commonly called, was a people's leader, a hero who dedicated his life to the struggle for liberation and freedom of the oppressed people in South Africa and beyond. Comrade O R knew that the system of colonialism and apartheid did not only create racial and class contradictions, but also created gender contradiction, as a result of which the majority of South African women were subjected to triple oppression. Had he been alive today, he would have been central in struggles against gender-based violence. Let us do what Comrade O R would have liked to see us doing.
Because of discrimination and the inhuman treatment of the majority of people under the apartheid system, we in the ANC believe that human dignity should be central to the values that underpin a free and democratic South Africa. Human dignity is an important value which we ensured would be at the heart of our constitutional democracy.
Our perspective in this debate derives from the Freedom Charter which envisions a society where a bill of rights guarantees fundamental rights and freedom for all. I'm talking of an inclusive society in which the dignity of all people must enjoy respect. This perspective informs our awareness of issues such as trafficking in women and children and allows us to understand them as violations of human dignity.
From the perspective of Darwinism, these vulnerable sections of our population would be doomed to perish because of their situation in society. However, our struggle continues to assert the humanness of the human spirit, and the search for societies at peace within and among themselves.
As South Africans, we are hard at work building and developing a society underpinned by values of human dignity, ubuntu, caring for all the people, especially the most vulnerable such as women and children. These women and children are vulnerable not because of their own choosing, but because they were born into and exist in societies characterised by violence against the most vulnerable people.
Trafficking in human beings and the combating of this phenomenon has received much attention and gathered momentum in the recent past. With the adoption of international instruments such as the UN Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, countries demonstrate a political commitment to combat human trafficking. This commitment also finds expression in continental instruments such as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
We would remember that the African Union, in 2002, reaffirmed the commitment to combat trafficking on the continent, as states identified the elimination of child trafficking as a priority in their respective countries.
With the ratification of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, South Africa embarked on a law reform process which will culminate in the passing of antitrafficking legislation. While our country has not yet passed comprehensive legislation on trafficking in persons, processes on developing such legislation are at a very advanced stage.
However, we have passed the Children's Act, which gives effect to the UN Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, thereby criminalising child trafficking and imposing a fine or imprisonment in respect of this crime.
While poverty may be recognised as the most visible cause of trafficking in human beings, it is the vulnerability of women and children which makes them easy targets of trafficking in human beings.
Varying degrees in stability, oppression and discrimination as well as social and cultural prejudices place women and children at greater risk. Sexual exploitation, in particular prostitution, is the most widely documented form of exploitation for trafficked women and children in Africa. Young women and children are often exploited sexually by being coerced or forced to participate in degrading activities such as prostitution, sexual servitude or the production of pornographic materials.
Some of the children are trafficked from their homes to work as domestic workers and labourers. Some commentators have linked human trafficking to the demand for particular body organs of human beings, which are supposedly required for traditional practices such as rituals and magic.
In dealing with trafficking in women and children, let us move forward with a common understanding that violence against the most vulnerable in society, especially women and children, requires us to redouble our efforts in advancing the interests of these people in our society.
As Members of Parliament, we embody the hopes and aspirations of the people. If we do not advance their cause, we would be failing to discharge our responsibilities as public representatives in this Parliament. Thank you.
Chairperson, the MF notes that violence against women and children is a common phenomenon in South Africa. The campaign is indeed very important, to inculcate a culture of awareness amongst South Africans, as violence manifests itself for South African society and delivers a negative impact on vulnerable groups.
As legal experts believe that the law is one-sided, it is a necessary form of social mobilisation because levels of violence across the world have become unacceptably high. Violence perpetuated against women and girls is so widespread that it constitutes a global epidemic in its own right.
The MF sadly notes that one in every five women have experienced physical violence, and that every six hours a woman is killed by her intimate partner. Victimisation indicates that children are still four times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than adults. The murder of a seven- year-old girl near Sir Lowry's Pass village on 24 October 2009 was another indictment of the situation regarding children's rights. The rights of women and children are fundamental human rights enshrined in and protected by the Constitution.
Mahatma Gandhi once said that if we have to teach real peace in this world and carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children. The MF makes this call, not only to government, but to all citizens of South Africa, to play their part in eliminating the scourge of violence. We will and can build a caring and peaceful society that protects women and children from all forms of abuse.
The MF challenges perpetrators of these offences to change their barbaric behaviours. Let us all engage actively with men and boys in the discourse of combating violence in our homes, communities and in the workplace. Finally, happiness is when what you think, say and do is in harmony. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, Cope supports the realisation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in all our communities. While South Africans remind themselves of the right to freedom of equality, many communities still accept gender-based violence. Approaching the courts, be it in criminal or civil procedures, also does not solve the problem at the time it needs to. We live in a violent society and therefore our measures to address gender-based violence should be in accordance with the crime committed.
It is indeed so that education will play a big role in the realisation of the right to equality, but the question that we need to address is: How do we ensure that equality prevails in our violent communities irrespective of our gender? The discrimination of women is a violation of our human rights. To kill a lesbian is not just a murder, but a crime that is fuelled by hate. Cope supports the creation of legislation to eradicate this hate. There is no specific hate crimes legislation in South Africa.
According to research, masculinity is a key to our understanding of hate crimes and gender-based violence. We understand hate crimes broadly. It is not just about one person saying "I am a lesbian", and the other saying "I hate lesbians", killing or raping them. It is about gender presentation; subverting male power in society; about women who don't need men, either for financial support or sexual pleasure; about women who wear clothes that are considered unfeminine, or drink in taverns late at night, or fight back when attacked.
Cope wants to know how we define a hate crime. Of course the police and prosecutors will refuse to investigate on the basis of hate if our definitions of the various crimes end without current common law definitions. Even to institute a civil suit will not remedy the situation, especially where the perpetrator does not even have the money to pay for the civil suit.
Statistics also further prove that perpetrators of hate crimes are themselves scared of something they don't know, fuelled by the inability to accept their own sexuality. Our communities in townships and rural areas need more education in this regard. It is in these communities that higher levels of homophobic hate crimes occur. It is also here where we find that schools show higher levels of gender abuse. In conclusion, I reiterate that we must prosecute all hate crimes against lesbians. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, it is that time of the year again, when we all focus on eradicating the scourge of violence against women and children, which unquestionably destroys communities, as it undermines the very people who nurture our children and influence the way they see the world. For me the real issue, in fact the only issue, is what has been achieved for women to date, and what happens to our commitment during the other 349 days of the year. The answer in South Africa, unfortunately, is very little.
Our Constitution provides that all people are equal before the law. But what does this mean for South African women and children in reality? The Domestic Violence Act has been in operation since 15 December 1999; nearly 10 years. Yet, every year there are still cases reported by the ICD of numerous police stations that are noncompliant with the terms of the legislation.
When they get caught out, they apply for exemption, which is often granted. Why there is even a provision for exemption is beyond me. Why bother enacting provisions to protect women and then allow the police to refuse to comply with them? It is quite clear that the SA Police Service is not committed to implementing this Act, and accordingly is not concerned about violence against women. There are still women who are turned away, with police refusing to open dockets or serve protection orders.
When the very people who are supposed to maintain law and order, and protect those who cannot protect themselves, refuse to do so, what hope do we have? When women are able to summon the courage to leave an abusive situation, there are hardly any shelters where they can go with their children. Most shelters will only accommodate the women. This must change if we are to end this destructive cycle.
Women and girls are continually targeted for sexual abuse in particular. How has South Africa addressed this issue? We closed down the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences, FCS units, or in some places, kept them technically in existence, with sufficient resources to make them absolutely meaningless. The results are that we still have 6 women and 2 children a day, being murdered, 74 women and 419 children a day being assaulted, and 82 women and 55 children a day being sexually assaulted. And those are only the reported cases.
Another crime that has been rearing its ugly head more and more often is human trafficking, which mostly involves women. Serious concerns have been raised, in particular for the 2010 World Cup. One would have expected government and the SAPS to have a very comprehensive plan in place by now to deal with that. Let us look at the facts. Last year, the police managed to report a grand total of 29 cases of sexual trafficking. Of these, 19 ended up in court and 5 resulted in convictions. This amidst reports of 1 000 Mozambicans alone crossing our borders every year for the purpose of sexual trafficking.
A deputy provincial commissioner in the Western Cape, and a woman at that, has recently been reported as saying, "All we have to deal with human trafficking is the Sexual Offences Amendment Act". This Act contains an entire section on sexual trafficking, which gives ample guidelines on how to take action. It also seems that she has never heard of the Constitution, which prohibits slavery, the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, and the Criminal Procedure Act. Perhaps it is no wonder that they have achieved this astonishing number of arrests, if the senior provincial leadership does not even know what legislation is available.
Notwithstanding why the police and the SA National Defence Force are still arguing about who should or shouldn't control the borders, whilst traffickers continue unabated, why is the promised human trafficking legislation still not before this House? This has led to our country, in 2008, being placed on a special watch list by the US state department, for the fourth consecutive year, as a result of the inability to exhibit efforts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The answer can only be that South Africa is not serious about human trafficking.
The Internet and cellphone industries are routinely abused by well- resourced paedophile groups with little fear of being caught. We need to do more to empower the police to bring them to book. But again, legislation is not the panacea for all these ills, unless we have the will and capacity to implement it.
We have a Maintenance Act. How many women are struggling every day because their partners have refused to pay them the amount due on time or at all? The court system is so overloaded and dysfunctional that they can go for months without relief, and the men just laugh literally all the way to the bank. Equal before the law? I think not.
A prime example of how this type of violence destroys communities is an example that has unfortunately recently been brought to my attention. A five-year-old girl had been abused by both her mother's boyfriend and her half-sister's boyfriend. When she reported this to her mother, her mother threatened her if she told anybody about it. What kind of a view of life is this little girl going to have? Unless we all generally accept that gender- based violence is wrong and commit to eradicating it, we will never make progress. We all have a responsibility to make this work. Nothing less than sustained action for 365 days a year will do. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, the issue of witchcraft has and continues to be a subject of contention in many societies. And here in South Africa 14 years into our democracy vast numbers of people in their communities are still victims of witchcraft accusations and in some instances there have been cases of lost lives.
The members of communities that are severely affected are women. For instance, in his book The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe, published in 1987 Levack writes on page 11 that the witchcraft accusations that were prevalent in Europe tended to produce large numbers of criminals and innocent victims of a deluded judiciary system and an oppressive legal system.
Levack further notes that the years 1542 to 1735 formed a period of English history when witchcraft remained a statutory crime punishable by death. Moreover, these years marked a significant increase in the number of witch- hunts and prosecutions.
Shocking as this statement is, it shows that contrary to some common generalisations the belief in witchcraft was not exclusively African. It has been a problem that haunted many societies for decades and is unfortunately still prevalent in many societies today. According to Reuters, 23 September 2009, the murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches is spreading around the world and destroying the lives of millions of people.
Regarding the role of gender in witchcraft accusations, as already indicated, in incidences of witchcraft accusations within the community, women are the victims and communities, through vigilante groups or mobs, often attack the accused women. Following such accusations, the victims are brought to community meetings if lucky, but in most cases the mob burns their property and in some cases end up burning the accused or beating them to death.
The most striking thing about the women accused of witchcraft is that there has never been a point at which any accuser or member of the community provided any substantial evidence to prove their accusations. The only thing that is common in these kinds of witchcraft accusations is that members of the community often associate witchcraft with the physical features of the accused. The features indicated include women that are not good-looking, women that are old and women that are too dark in complexion, amongst others.
Most women that are victims of witchcraft accusations are often found in rural communities where poverty is rife. In urban areas, it is not common to find incidents of mob killings based on witchcraft accusations. In addition, where physical features are not a factor, jealousy also seems to fuel accusations of witchcraft directed at women whose families are doing well and are more successful.
Writing about witchcraft, Karlsen asserts in her 1998 book The Devil in the Shape of a Woman that there is a tendency in most societies to associate witchcraft with women rather than men. Although it is not clear as to why society tends to hold this perception, statistics show that witchcraft accusations tend to be directed at women. To illustrate this, Karlsen draws from the historical data of witchcraft cases in New England: of the 344 cases in which residents of New England were accused of witchcraft between the years 1620 and 1725, it emerged that 78% were female, and that roughly half of the accused men were husbands, sons or friends of female witches; that the majority were over the age of 40, that is past child-bearing age; and single, widowed or divorced women were proportionately over-represented among those accused of witchcraft.
In reference to our country, Singer, in 2000, in an article in the Christian Science Monitor also showed that more women, as compared to men, tend to be accused of witchcraft. To illustrate the gravity of the problem in South Africa, Singer used the Limpopo experience as an example, where he writes that:
More than 500 people, mostly women, were accused of witchcraft and killed by mobs here between 1990 and 1995. Even more lost their homes and their possessions when they were either run out of town or had their homes torched.
Such incidents were also rife in Mopani and Vhembe in Limpopo in our country. This led to an international conference on witchcraft held in June 1988 at the University of Venda in the Vhembe district, attended by various stakeholders whose resolutions and recommendations should be pursued.
Notwithstanding the various pieces of legislation on witchcraft suppressions that were passed early at 1735 in England and 1957 in South Africa to deal with the problem, women continue to bear the brunt and stigma of being labelled witches in our society. Ironically, the word "witch", strictly used for females, is more frequently used than "wizard" referring to males, to describe the act of witchcraft.
For instance, the image of women who breastfeed their children for witchcraft purposes is common in African witchcraft stories and folklore, hence serious acts of witchcraft are described as having being inherited from the mother rather than the father. For example, there are common statements like "sucking witchcraft from the mother's breast". It is dangerous statements like these that reinforce societal beliefs about women as symbols of witchcraft. Unless one is reading Harry Potter, in most movies or books the character of a witch is normally played by a woman.
Throughout history, women were seen as lower-ranked people and also possessing a greater instinct for evil than men. This means that whenever they attempted to be equal to men, they had to be a witch. As already indicated, the term "witch" is also an image of women, and thus made them even more accusable. Historically, most natural healers were women not men, and so were accused of being witches because of their different healing methods.
Women have often been made scapegoats throughout history, mainly because they were vulnerable and could not defend themselves. Drawing from the Salem experience, Karlsen, in 1998, notes that there was a correlation between witchcraft and aberrations in the traditional line of property transmission. She notes that property, particularly land, typically went to the male relatives after the death of a parent. In the cases of many women who were accused of witchcraft Karlsen discovered a pattern of women standing to inherit in the absence of male heirs.
It is clear from these issues that are raised here that accusations of witchcraft have mostly been based on an attempt by society to oppress and suppress women. Portraying the image of a woman as more prone to evil has always been used as a basis for justifying why women should not participate in, or benefit from, certain societal initiatives. For example, there are customs that do not allow women to go to the graveyard when someone has died because of an accident instead of natural causes. Given some of the reasons already stated, it has become more convenient to point at women as witches.
Regarding the beatings and burning, the media abound with stories of women in various communities in our country who have been beaten up after they had been accused of witchcraft. In the worst cases women have been burned to death on the basis of witchcraft accusations that are not verifiable.
In some communities throughout Africa, when someone has been identified as a witch, they are often banished from the community or, worse still, in some parts of Africa imprisoned without trial. This negatively affects women and children who are often at the receiving end of such injustices.
It was recommended that the issue of killings and destruction of property by community mobs, so-called mob justice, cannot go unchallenged where women lose their lives and property and leave their children orphaned because of perpetrators whose accusations are not based on fact or proof.
South Africa is a democratic country with a supreme Constitution that, through the Bill of Rights, accords every individual living in this country the right to life without fear of intimidation or being subjected to unfair discrimination on the basis of their gender, culture, physical appearance, conscience or belief.
The state is supposed to respect, protect, promote and fulfil each individual's rights as stated in the Constitution's Bill of Rights, and yet in this country we still have mob justice where defenceless women are robbed of the right to life by being brutally assaulted and killed on the basis of suspicion.
Despite the Constitution guaranteeing every individual in the country the right to a fair trial, where everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, most women accused of witchcraft are never given the chance of a fair trial before a court of law or even traditional authorities. Instead, mobs take the law into their own hands, and little is being done about the issue.
The fact that most of these atrocities happen in rural areas to illiterate rural women who do not know their rights, makes the problem even more worthy of discussion and attention. It is therefore in this light that I am forwarding the following recommendations in order to address this issue of continuously persecuting and killing women on the basis of unfounded accusations of witchcraft.
There is a need to educate society on the problem of engendering witchcraft and its dangers, as well as the associated discrimination against women. This education should also form part of the curricula on gender studies in schools as well as in institutions of higher learning.
Communities and traditional leaders should be engaged through workshops and capacity-building through training programmes in order to dispel the myth that women are witches because they are widowed, too dark, old or not good- looking. Everybody must be educated about the Constitution and the rights of citizens.
The media in all forms must be actively and appropriately utilised to educate society about the dangers of engendering witchcraft instead of just reporting stories of people who got killed or banished from their homes because of witchcraft accusations.
These endeavours will assist in changing the stereotypes that portray women as witches who should be assaulted or killed. Thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.