Men coming forward over abuse
MORE men are coming out to report abuse. At least 1 out of every 10 (or 10%) of men in the country have suffered from trauma because of sexual assault. Like women, men who experience sexual assault may suffer from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other emotional problems as a result.
However, because men and women have different life experiences due to their different gender roles, emotional symptoms following trauma can look different in men than they do in women.
According to Eswatini Action Against Abuse (SWAGAA) there were 147 female and 54 male clients who reported abuse and received post-abuse care services this month. Concerning perpetrator profiles, there were
128 male perpetrators and 63 female perpetrators reported, and 10 incidents where the sex of the perpetrator was not stated.
Emotional abuse recorded the highest number of reported cases 118, followed by other abuse (depression, wayward behaviour, and maintenance grief) with 37 cases, 29 sexual abuse, 19 cases of neglect, and seven cases of financial abuse which were reported in February 2024.
Of the 29 sexual abuse cases that were reported, 28 were females and the one was male. In South Africa, reported violence against men is high as about 3.5 per cent of men have been forced to have sex with other men in a 2009 Medical Research Council survey. y About 19.4 94 p per cent of all adult victims of sexual assault in South Africa in 2022 were male.
Eswatini now recognises rape against men and boys by either a woman or another man as rape and not indecent assault which was a much lesser crime, and which often afforded perpetrators of these violent acts lesser sentences.
Psychologist and Mental Health for Men Counsellor Sanelisiwe Mkhonta said the SODV Act of 2018 defines rape as ‘unlawful insertion, even to the slightest degree, of the genital organs of a person or any other part of the body of a person for purposes of sexual gratification of the person performing the insertion into the genital organs.’
“Importantly, Clause 3 of the Act states; For the purposes of this Act rape is committed either by a male or female person against another person. The legal definition of rape has changed substantially since the introduction of the Act last year,” she said.
In addition, Mkhonta said society needed to wake up and include the males, and boy children too, because they were also suffering abuse at the hands of their loved ones.
“Yes, a man can be raped too, be emotionally abused but we have all been wired to think men do not cry and are supposed to be pillars this is a common thing currently happening in the country,” she said.
Worth mentioning is that the pre-existing definition (some of which was drafted in 1920 before even the reign of King Sobuza II), was narrow concerning both gender and age; rape was an act of sexual intercourse committed by a man towards a woman against her will.
As such, the SODV Act provided a long-overdue update to an obsolete, legal definition. The law now identifies rape as a crime which can be perpetrated by any person of any gender, on another person of any gender.
Rape is broadly defined as a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person’s consent.
According to the World Health Organisation ( WHO), rape may occur by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person who is incapable of giving valid consent, such as one who is uncon
bvscious, incapacitated, has an intellectual disability or is below the legal age of consent.
Meanwhile, in this reporting period, the Manzini region reported the highest number of abuse-related issues 125, followed by Hhohho with 43, Shiselweni with 20 and Lubombo with 13 cases reported. The statistics were a result of psychosocial services rendered by the Eswatini Action Group Against Abuse to survivors of abuse in February 2024 in six sites which are Manzini, Mbabane, Simunye, Hlatsi, Mankayane, and Pigg’s Peak. This also includes survivors who received post-abuse care under the Sabelo Sensha project.
SWAGAA’S Communication Officer Sakhile Dlamini said the counselling department provided post-abuse care services to a total of 201 clients; 147 females and 54 males who reported gender-based violence cases of, sexual, physical, neglected, financial, emotional or other.
“Note that the number of cases is higher than the number of clients because a client can report multiple types of abuse at the same time. A total of 227 cases of abuse out of 201 survivors who reported the incidents,” she said.