She was dragged into the car and taken to a secluded area where she was raped.
A similar incident happened in Soweto when a mother was raped in front of her son after boarding a taxi.
It is reported that an estimated over 40 per cent of South African women will be raped in their lifetime and that only one in four rapes is reported.
It is also estimated that only 14 per cent of the perpetrators of rape are convicted in South Africa.
Have we as people normalised rape to the point where we now have group of men who sit around a bonfire and smoke weed while planning to rape women?
I could somehow imagine them planning how they are going to pick up their victims.
I could see them discussing how they are going to invade their souls and strip them of their dignity through flaunting their masculinity.
I believe we have now established that men are physically stronger than women but do they have to force themselves on us?
I wonder if, in that group of men, there isn’t someone with a conscience to tell them off.
I am disturbed that we have now normalised rape so much that we are now coming up with ridiculous preventative measures for women to avoid falling victim to it.
We are advised to cover up – no short skirts, no skimpy tops – not to laugh out too loud because this might sound like you are inviting men in your direction. Sit with your legs closed.
Women should avoid walking or driving alone at night or they might fall victim.
We are, again, advised not to hang around with boys because there is a greater chance that one could get raped by a male friend.
No woman is safe either during the day or at night or locked in the house or in the street.
We are walking targets – we get raped by uncles, fathers, stepfathers, cousins, neighbours, teachers, taxi drivers, strangers, friends, bosses, colleagues, acquaintances, pastors and strangers.
Why aren’t we coming up with ways of teaching young men not to rape rather than teaching women how to avoid being raped?
Why aren’t we dealing with the root cause rather than finding reasons why victims fall prey?
