What does the face of evil look like?

The story of the media man accused of grooming and sexually molesting schoolboys over years is nothing short of a crime thriller.

At the height of the campaign, sixteen days of activism against abuse, it strengthens the perception in society of an abuser who does not fit the mould: he did not look it, he did not act it, it’s impossible that he did it … Yet we expect women to walk away.

What does an abuser have to look like for a victim to not have to jump through the fires of hell to be believed? Were the exposes of church clergy not enough to demonstrate that rapists and abusers were not bad men who had it tattooed on their foreheads that they steal and kill hope?

The very best is believed of the very same person who makes your days cold with fear and your nights an episode of Survivor.

That caring individual who would never kill a fly can break a person’s soul. This is how the likes of the media man got away with it for so many years.

I know many township stories of men who are among those caught with either their pants down or their hands beating the defenceless.

But people find it unbelievable that a victim can be hurt by a church leader, worship member, prayer warriors and beacon of the community…

Former tennis ace and convicted rapist Bob Hewitt is another perfect example.

Remember Itumeleng Maseko who was accused of killing her socialite husband Caswell? While we may never know the truth of what happened in her Emalahleni house, we heard naysayers refuting her version of events because “he just was not built that way”. Even as estate guards lay the couple’s volatile marriage bare, it just could not be…

We are so quick to believe character roles that we are completely oblivious to the true nature of people.

This is history continually repeating itself. As it plays itself out on TV stations and in newspapers, we are too far removed from the fact that the face of evil may one day knock on our own doors.

May we know better in order to do better.

Kekeletso Nakeli-Dhliwayo.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.