Alex creatives share their heartfelt sentiments with their fellows
Local artists don't feel safe in the streets anymore after learning that a group of artists got raped while shooting their music video.
Creatives in Alex shared heartfelt sentiments with their fellow artists who were brutally raped on July 30 in Krugersdorp while shooting their music video.
It was alleged that the eight female artists were raped by 20 armed men who were wearing Basotho blankets.
Actor and poet Refilwe Pieterse expressed, “My heart is bleeding, as an Alex’s artist, I’m concerned about the safety of artists, I’m concerned about the girls whose lives and dignity was brutally stolen from them. Their life will never be the same.”
She shared her her own experience with the group of women. “I’m profoundly sorry for all the girls and families, I can only imagine what you must be going through right now. As a victim of multiple rapes, I know it takes too many years to recover from rape trauma – sometimes there’s no recovery, not everyone is resilient.
It has been 37 years now and it never left me even today. It is so painful to know that eight young women are going to face the horrors, lifetime nightmares and traumas of rape because there is no difference between rape and murder, maybe the only difference is that the rape victim can still breathe. I say rape is worse than murder.”
Pieterse said justice must be served and the perpetrators given life sentences as they don’t deserve to live among people.
Members of the Alex Arts Theatre Company and Academy also shared their views on the incident, as it came as a shock to them.
Khanyisile Dlamini, a theatre practitioner at the Academy said, “I relate so much to the incident because most of the time as female artists we are taken advantage of, by people who have much power in the industry. It is really unfortunate this time around these girls had no power to say no, as they were raped. I think it’s time the government takes action and does something about this, even the Department of Arts and Culture should protect us more.”
Head of education at the academy Masiza Mbali added that they are open to so many chancers in the entertainment industry, and some people find it so easy to put other people’s lives at risk because of their working condition. He gave an example of how sometimes the women have to wear certain clothes because they are artists and that makes them prey to predators.
“As artists I think we should go back to the drawing board and push the agenda to the government, and ask how do we make sure our working conditions are safe and meet all the safety conditions.”
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