Corrective Rape in South Africa

A woman carries her belongings through the rubble of shacks in the Ramaphosa squatter camp photo by Kim Ludbrook

Very moved and angered today by the grim story in the Guardian newspaper reporting the practise of correct rapes on lesbains in South Africa. Similarly I have also been outraged by the rape of women there wearing the Kanga ~ a traditional Africa dress.

See the video news Bulletin here

"Every day I am told that they are going to kill me, that they are going to rape me and after they rape me I'll become a girl," said Zakhe Sowello from Soweto, Johannesburg. "When you are raped you have a lot of evidence on your body. But when we try and report these crimes nothing happens, and then you see the boys who raped you walking free on the street."

Its such a shame that a country that has fought so hard for its rights againts the injustice of Apartheid shames its women in this way.

"Political freedom without economic empowerment is a hollow victory. However, economic empowerment without spiritual emancipation is not only hollow but deadly"

~ Mmatsilo Motsei in her book "The Kanga and the kangaroo court"

Men particularly from a patriarchal society, such as South Africa are born into communities where it is the norm to exploit and abuse women both verbally and physically as a way of exerting power. It is a huge challenge to re educate the value sytems that allow such injustice to take place. Women feel powerless to take a stand for fear of their lives. It is critical that women can walk the streets with out fear ~ a place which has a rape a minute. Change can only come about with a moral and spiritual awakening that values the equality of women in a society by men who have learned to love and respect themselves.

"When we track down and kill another person or persons, we ourselves individually die some. We place the best in ourselves the human spirit, otherwise called God ~ in unspeakable jeopardy." ~ African Elder, Eskia Mphahele

I am Khanga

I wrap myself around the curvaceous bodies of women all over Africa

I am the perfect nightdress on those hot African nights

The ideal attire for household chores

I secure babies happily on their mother’s backs

Am the perfect gift for new bride and new mother alike

Armed with proverbs, I am vehicle for communication between women

I exist for the comfort and convenience of a woman

But no no no make no mistake …

I am not here to please a man

And I certainly am not a seductress

Please don’t use me as an excuse to rape

Don’t hide behind me when you choose to abuse

You see

That’s what he said my Malume

The man who called himself my daddy’s best friend

Shared a cell with him on [Robben] Island for ten whole years

He said I wanted it

That my khanga said it

That with it I lured him to my bed

That with it I want you is what I said

But what about the NO I uttered with my mouth

Not once but twice

And the please no I said with my body

What about the tear that ran down my face as I lay stiff with shock

In what sick world is that sex

In what sick world is that consent

The same world where the rapist becomes the victim

The same world where I become the bitch that must burn

The same world where I am forced into exile because I spoke out?

This is NOT my world

I reject that world

My world is a world where fathers protect and don’t rape

My world is a world where a woman can speak out

Without fear for her safety

My world is a world where no one , but no one is above the law

My world is a world where sex is pleasurable not painful

"On May 8, 2006, the South African Judge Willem van der Merwe ruled that ANC leader Jacob Zuma was not guilty of the rape of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, the daughter of his late friend Judson Kuzwayo, his fellow prisoner on Robben Island who died in exile in 1985. Zuma did not deny having sex with her, but claimed since the victim wore a kanga, a traditional African wrap around cloth and that she had “asked for it.”

She performed this poem in Amsterdam at the opening of the exhibition “Identity, Power and Connection,” It was her first response to the verdict.