Modulasetulo, Letona, Mme Lulu Xingwana, Motlatsa Letona, Mme Sotyu le maloko a Makgotla a Tshebetso a tswang Mabatoweng, Modulasetulo, dibui tse ngata di se di buile ka ntlha ena ya tlhekefetso ya bomme le bana. Ha ke sheba, ho tloha sebuing sa pele e leng Lulu Xingwana ho fihlela jwale, ke bona re ntse re bua dintho tse tshwanang e ka re entse dipatlisiso tse tshwanang ho tloha tokomaneng e le nngwe hobane kaofela re bua tlhekefetso ena ya bomme le bana ka mekgahlelo e fapafapaneng.
Ha o sheba ho na le ntho e bitswang tlhekefetso mmeleng, maikutlong kapa moruong. Hobaneng bomme ba dula kgatellong tse tjena? O tla fumana hore mme o ile a hlekefetswa lenyalong ho thwe mme o ngalla motsheo. Ha ke so ka ke ya lenyalong, moo Modulasetulo, ke ileng ka utlwa hothwe ha monna a ho shapa, o ilo mo tshwarisa empa nako le nako hothwe ha monna a ho shapa o lokela ho ngalla motsheo. Ana ke eng eo re e susumetsang? Ka mantswe a mang ke setso. Kgalekgale setsong ho ne hothwe ha monna a ho shapa o se ke wa baleha lelapeng hobane o tlile moo ho tla aha motse, jwale o tlamehile ho dula ntlung.
Dintho tsena ke tse ding tse etsang hore le kajeno, rona re le setjhaba se setsho hangata re dula mona leha o utlwa hore seta se a ho tjhesa, feela o ntse o dutse maemong a jwalo bitsong la hore o aha motse, o aha lelapa. Ke tsona dintho tsena tseo qetellong o fumana hore bomme le bana ba hlekefetswa.
Taba e nngwe Motlatsa Modulasetulo, eo ke batlang ho e akgela hobane bongata bo se bo builwe ke dibui tse ding, ke tlhekefetso ya bomme ka lebollo. Hangata e ne e etsahala mane Limpopo jwalokaha Kgosi e se e buile empa ha a e ama. Ke ne ke nahana hore Kgosi o tla e ama. Taba ena ya hore bomme ba ya lebollong eo ka Sekgowa e bitswang ... (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[Mr B A MNGUNI: Chairperson, Minister, Mrs Lulu Xingwana, Deputy Minister Mrs Sotyu, and members of the executive councils from provinces, most speakers have already spoken on the issue of abuse of women and children. When you look, from the first speaker who was Lulu Xingwana until now, I realize that we are all saying the same things as though we conducted the same investigations from the same document, because we are all talking about abuse of women and children at different levels.
If you look there is something called "physical, emotional or economic abuse". Why do women stay under such oppression? You find that a woman has been abused in her marriage but she is not expected to leave her home. I have never been to a marriage, Chairperson, where I heard that when your husband abuses you, you should have him arrested. But time and again they say you should never leave home. What is it that we are encouraging? In other words, it is a cultural thing. In the past, culturally it was expected that when your husband abuses you, you must not flee to your parents' house because you went there to start your own family, therefore you must stay in your house.
These are some of the things that even today cause us as black people to stay in a marriage even though it is not comfortable, but you stay in such a situation with the notion that you are building a home. These are the sorts of things that in the end cause women and children to be abused.
The other issue, Chairperson, that I would like to mention - because a lot has been mentioned by other speakers - is women abuse by circumcision. It used to happen a lot in Limpopo; the Chief who has just spoken did not touch on it. The issue of women going for circumcision, which in English is called ...]
... female circumcision ...
... ke e nngwe ya dintho tseo e leng ho tlhekefetswa ha bomme. Ke ntho e nngwe ya setso eo e sa leng teng hobane hothwe o tlamehhile o ikobele monna kapa molao. Jwalokaha leloko le tswang KwaZulu-Natal, Mme Roopnarain a boletse hore ha se hore ntho ena ke setso, empa e teng mahlakoreng oohle, ho sa kgathatsehe hore o moAfrika kapa lekgowa, e ntse e le teng.
Ha re hopola hore dinakong tsa rona tsa kgale, le ha ho hlaha thope, o ne o utlwa motho a re: (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[... is one of the things that are abusive to women. It is one of the cultural aspects which have always been there, because they say you must humble yourself towards your husband or culture. As a family from KwaZulu- Natal, Mrs Roopnarain has mentioned that this is not because it's a cultural thing, but it exists in all societies. Irrespective of whether you are African or European, it is also there.
When we thing back to the good old times, when a man saw a woman, he would say:]
Nongenawo ubhasikidi uyangena emakethe. [Everyone gets what he or she wants.] Dintho tseo e ne e le setso nakong eo re neng re hola empa ka lebaka la hore ... [Those things were cultural during the time when we were growing up but ...]
... there are changes in society.
Leha o ya lekeisheneng kajeno, o utlwa bashemane ba re: "Eish, ngwana enwa o pakile", e ntse e le yona ntho ya hore ... [Even when you go to the townships today, you hear boys saying: "Eish, this chick is voluptuous." It is still a matter of ...]
Nongenawo ubhasikidi uyangena emakethe ... [Everyone gets what he or she wants ...]
... empa e nka ... [... but it takes ...]
... different forms.
Re etsa jwang re le setjhaba hore re rute batho ba rona, bana ba ntseng ba hola, bashemane le banana, ba dikolong hore ba hlokomele ntho ena ya hlekefetso ba sa ntsane ba le banyenyane hore ha ba hola ba bone hore ha ke etsa tjena, ke tlhekefetso kapa ke tlola molao jwale.
Modulasetulo, ho na le ntho ena hothweng ... (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.) [What do we do as a nation to educate our people, the ones who are still growing up, boys and girls who are still at school, to be aware of abuse at an early age, so that when they grow up they realise that when they do that, it is abuse, or that they are now breaking the law.
Chairperson, there is this thing called ...
... there is too much emphasis on keeping relationships together. People who stay together for the sake of the children are delusional. We are not supposed to do that. In most cases you will find that a wife will stay in a relationship because it's a long-standing one. However, nothing is worth living with an abusive partner.
The issue of domestic violence should be raised and addressed among teens. They might have supportive families and might not really understand what is happening out there, so domestic violence should be highlighted at schoolgoing age as a no-no, along with drugs and alcohol.
Ha re se re tla nneteng, Modulasetulo, ke e shebise ho Letona la Sepolesa hore re ke ke ra kgona hore ho be le lepolesa ntlo le ntlo ho sheba hore na bomme kapa bana ha ba hlekefetswe, empa re tshwanetse ho etsa hore bona batho bana ba hlekefetswang, ba nke boikarabelo. Ha motho a hlekefetswa, a bone hore o a tlaleha sepoleseng. Ha a sa tlalehe, ho be le nomoro ya mohala ya mahala moo a tlang ho letsetsa teng hore a bule nyewe. Haeba ho na le khamera katlung, a nke ditshwatsho ho bontsha moo a shapuweng, ho etsahetseng, a bolelle metswalle le baahisane ba hae hore o ya tetekwa ka mona ho etsetsa hore ho se ho uwa lekgotleng la dinyewe, ho be le bopaki bo tletseng hore motho enwa ke nnete, o tetekilwe ke mohlankana kapa monna wa hae.
Ha re etsa jwalo, re tla kgona hore dinyewe tsena tsa hlekefetso ka mohlomong re di fokotse, leha re ke ke ra kgona ho di fokotsa kaofela hobane ha re tsebe ho etsahalang ka matlung a rona bosiu. Ka mantswe ao, Modulasetulo, ke re kgomo ha e nye bolokwe kaofela. [Mahofi.] (Translation of Sesotho paragraphs follows.)
[If we are to tell the truth, Chairperson, I should point out to the Minister of Police that we won't be able to have a policeman for every household in order to see that women and children are not abused, but we should see to it that the very people who are abused take responsibility. If someone is abused they should report it to the police. If they don't report it, there should be a toll-free landline which they can call and open a case. If there is a camera at home they should take photos to show where they have been assaulted, and what happened, tell their friends and neighbours that they are abused so that when the matter goes to court there is evidence to prove that indeed this person has been abused by her boyfriend or husband.
If we do that, perhaps we might just be able to reduce the number of abuse cases, even if we are not able to do away with all of them, because we don't know what is happening in people's homes at night. With those words, Chairperson, I would like to conclude here and leave the rest for another time.]