The war against women is a reality. One cannot deny it, and it exists in every corner of this land.
South Africa is becoming an increasingly unsafe place for women to live in. The Crime Against Women in South Africa Report by Statistics SA shows that femicide (the murder of women on the basis of their gender) is five times higher than the global average.
This means that in South Africa, women are five times more likely to be killed due to gender-based violence committed by men.
Time after time the Advertiser reports on rape or some other form of abuse against women.
And then you have to wonder, how many of these incidents we reported, especially when it comes to domestic violence?
In South Africa, horrendous tales of young girls and women going missing make the rounds on social media daily, with the occasional post catching media’s attention and becoming a national news story.
We are not only dealing with growing concerns over xenophobia, but also the shocking levels of violence against women.
Recently, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised a large-scale restructuring of the criminal justice system to help deal with gender-based violence. He said the epidemic of gender-based violence and femicide has damaged the fabric of the country.
Yes, our president has once again made all the right noises, but the proof remains in the pudding.
He also mentioned that the recent acts of violence have made South Africans doubt the foundation of and commitment to a democratic society.
Well, Mr President, the recent cases of femicide have not caused me to doubt; they have only strengthened the reality that we are morally corrupt and drowning in carnal decadence.
Ongoing corruption, bad governance, poor management, greed, unemployment and persistent high levels of crime, Mr President, have caused us to doubt the foundation of our democracy a long time ago.
The clear decay of our moral fibre, evident in the way we treat women and children, has for a long time, Mr President, cast a huge shadow over our failing democracy’s ability to uphold any form of human rights.
Ramaphosa gave all kinds of assurances that police, prosecutors and the courts would be improved to act as a deterrent to murderers and rapists. There were even talks of harsher minimum sentences.
The problem is we remain reactive instead of proactive. We fail to continually deal with the root causes for our country’s plunge into a void of moral corruption.
The solution, according to government, is to apply more resources to bolster our reactive approach to solve the crisis.
It is like trying to deal with a raging fire. We keep on sending more fire fighters, even deploy the best trucks, yet we fail to deal with the fuel that causes the blaze to keep burning.
It is the same with our out-of-control crime situation, which is clearly evident in Boksburg. We keep bolstering law enforcement, with the CPF and security companies working around the clock, yet the root causes of the blaze of anarchy is never addressed.
It is a matter of supply and demand. We will never win the war against drugs if the demand remains high. We need to deal with the root cause so that the supply runs dry.
This is the same with all other crimes, including xenophobia and the violence against women and children.
We need to address the root causes of our country’s hatred, bitterness and anger, for this is the demand that feeds the supply of violence.
People have also called for the death penalty, but this is, again, reactive and will not be the deterrent or the solution to our collapse into moral anarchy.
Sadly, the government continues to fail to realise such a dire need, especially with the state of our schools screaming that our youth have been stricken with deepening moral leprosy.
If the youth of today are set on a course of good morals and values, then surely we will not continue to witness all the brutality and violence and, therefore, have no need for harsher sentences, greater numbers of law enforcement or even the death penalty.
And it all begins at home.
