Sitting outside Court 11 at the Benoni Magistrate’s Court, I peer from behind my laptop screen, watching as women silently take their seats.
Their bodies are noticeably rigid and their hands are constantly fluttering as they tame stray hair or tug at their clothes.
They are uncomfortable in their surroundings and more so in their skins.
Their physical appearance gives no hint as to the reasons that brought them this building, but the anguish etched on their faces says it all.
These mothers, daughters, sisters and friends bravely faced the indignity of reporting a rape and have shed the shackles of shame to testify against a man they claim raped them.
At the age of 33, one of the victims of the alleged Daveyton/Thembisa serial rapist, Sipho Lucas Phiri, struggle against the tears rolling down her cheeks.
Three decades of her life has been marred by rape.
The first occurred when she was only seven, followed by an unholy kiss at the age of 16, at 25 the former Prasa security guard allegedly secured a trifecta.
Watching her emotions crumble and her tears drop onto the floor, my heart feels like it is in a vice-grip.
Minister of police, Senzo Mchunu, recently released the national crime statistic of the first quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year, citing an increase in reported cases of rape between April and June, this year.
The stats are as follows:
• Sexual offences dropped from 11 616 cases to 11 566 resulting in a decrease of 50 reports
• Rape increased by 57 cases to 9 309
• Sexual assault showed a ‘significant’ decrease from 1 642 reported cases to 1 469.
It is important to note that these statistics only indicate cases that have been reported to the police and can be interpreted as a skewed analysis of the reality of sexual crimes.
Listening as these women comfort one another, a nagging question floods my thoughts.
The question we as a society should ask is not how many more women will be raped but rather how many times must a woman be raped before the relentless attacks on our femininity will come to an end?
Will the scourge be brought to an end with harsher sentences? Should more pamphlets be handed out to women about ways that we should protect our bodies?
As the mother of sons, I say no to all of the above.
The onus of protecting women, our daughters and sisters rests with us, parents, role models and community leaders.
It all, I believe starts by instilling respect for one another. It is about teaching our boys to stand up for the girl who is being sexually taunted by a peer.
It is about teaching the power of ‘no.’ No matter the situation ‘no’ always means ‘no.’
But this change will take time to bear fruits and until then, women will more than likely come face-to-face with an older generation of men, whose values are deeply entrenched in rape culture.
For these one could only hope that they are fairly tried and if found guilty without reasonable doubt be given the harshest sentence.
Lock them up and throw away the key.
Not only for the protection of women but also to prevent them from tarnishing the characters of young men who are navigating the choppy waters of responsibility, respect and sexuality.
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