Hon President, hon Deputy President and hon members, as a result of the shocking reports of brutal rape cases these past weeks, I am going to devote much of my time this afternoon addressing this scourge, and making proposals that the ACDP believes should be adopted to help us deal with this crime.
In December last year, after an Indian student was brutally raped in a bus in Delhi, there was a national outcry, whereby thousands of angry people took to the streets of Delhi, demanding that women should be given more protection and that the perpetrators of this heinous crime be arrested swiftly and brought to book.
When the 17-year-old Anene Booysen was raped and the intestines ripped out of her body by young rapists - one of whom was known to her - one would have expected a similar national outcry, whereby thousands of people would demonstrate in the streets, just as happened in India. Alas, only a few hundred people protested. To those outside who have been protesting, they should continue doing so until their voices are heard. The ACDP is very concerned about the increasing brutal rapes that have become part of our society. In yesterday's Dispatch Online, there was a report about the rape of a 110-year-old grandmother from Jojweni village in the Eastern Cape. This is shocking and disgusting. The young man who did it should receive the severest punishment.
How should government deal with such cruelty in our society? I agree with the comments that were attributed to Contralesa president, the hon Phathekile Holomisa, who reportedly said, and I quote: "It is clear, we need a punishment that is worse than a lifetime in jail."
South Africa's rape statistics show a country at war with itself. We have the highest number of declared rapes in the world. According to an Interpol crime report, in South Africa a woman is raped every 17 seconds, one in every two women will be raped at some stage in their lifetime and half of those women would be under 18.
We have to acknowledge that we have a serious, endemic and sustained culture of extreme violence against women and children. The government must take drastic action to stop this unacceptable cruelty. Women, grandmothers and children have the right to feel safe in their homes and communities. They have the right to demand protection from government, as we saw women in India demand.
Judge Albie Sachs once said, and I quote: ... to the extent that it is systematic, pervasive and overwhelmingly gender-specific, domestic violence both reflects and reinforces patriarchal domination, and does so in a particularly brutal form.
Women and children are even raped in police custody by police officials. In Yugoslavia and Rwanda, this is considered torture and is prosecutable, not only as rape, but as a crime against humanity. It should be the same in South Africa.
Adding to the problem, police officials have been guilty of not collecting rape kits from hospitals, with some being left for more than two years. This incompetence contributes to the low rate of conviction. These agents of the state are breaking the law, and each investigating officer that does not do due diligence in rape cases should be prosecuted.
There are a few important things that the ACDP believes should be done to help drastically lower rape incidents in our country: Firstly, community members - men and boys in particular - must be told in no uncertain terms that sex is not an entitlement.
Secondly, although there are efforts to train police to be gender- sensitive, there are countless reports of police insensitivity when a woman reports a rape. Police officers should receive specialised training to deal with rape cases. Thirdly, access to pornography by children is rife, and we do not have legislation in place that prevents children from accessing pornography on their cell phones. For example, when children access pornography, it really damages their psyche. They do things based on what they see in the pornographic material and it completely desensitises them to moral issues and to what rape really is. If the government is serious about fighting the scourge of rape and sexual abuse in our country, then it cannot and should not allow pornography to be freely accessible everywhere in South Africa.
Fourthly, the use and influence of drugs and alcohol has contributed immensely to the problem of rape in our communities. Removing all illicit drugs from society, and arresting all drug dealers should become a government priority so that our children's future can be secured.
Fifthly, those convicted of murder and rape should never be released on parole. A clear message must be sent to the public that rapists will be dealt with harshly and those found guilty will be severely punished.
Lastly, the majority of South Africans want capital punishment to be reinstated. A government of the people, by the people, should listen to the people.
Having said the above, I now want to appeal to churches and all other religious formations to speak out much louder against rape and women abuse in our communities. They should warn our people, particularly children, about the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. They should be seen to be leading the Moral Regeneration Campaign in our country.
The President further said that the government was clamping down on corruption. He knows that most South Africans want to know why more than R200 million was spent on renovations at his private residence at Nkandla with taxpayers' money, and yet he is quiet on the matter.
There are two questions that I want to ask about this secretive expenditure on the Nkandla project: Firstly, even though we agree that the safety of the President and his family should be a government priority, I want to know why the President needs a bunker? Are there any plans by some comrades or foreign governments to bomb President Zuma's residence just like French soldiers when they were assisted by the UN troops stationed in Ivory Coast to bomb the residence of the former Ivory Coast president, Laurent Gbagbo?
Secondly, if the reports in the City Press newspaper were correct, then why was taxpayers' money used to build a tuck shop for one of the first ladies? Obviously, this allegation challenges the contention of the Minister of Public Works that the government only spent money on security upgrades at Nkandla. The fact that government departments spent more than R102 billion on consultants highlights government's wastefulness by keeping incompetent and unqualified comrades in office. Why don't they replace them with competent employees, so that these billions of rands can be used to build more schools for children who are still learning under trees and in mud classrooms?
Lastly, on the issue of Palestine, I find it disheartening that about 90 nations in the world are accused of human rights abuses, and the people in Syria, China, Russia and neighbouring Zimbabwe, to name a few, are crying out for attention, but the President can only see the Gaza conflict.
Mr President, are you aware of the Christian residents who live in fear in Gaza and have appealed for protection from the international community? They are allegedly harassed, raped and robbed by Hamas and Islamist extremists, and have no protection. Will you also speak out in their defence? I wonder why the President chooses to be so biased and selective in these matters? Thank you. [Applause.]