A broken society

EVERY year in December we have the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. And recently, women were enjoined to dress in black and wear red lipstick in solidarity with their sisters who have been abused or killed by intimate partners.

There are campaigns, marches, hashtags – but clearly they are not having the desired impact in creating a South African society in which our women feel safe.

Thanks specifically to the widespread publicity around Karabo Mokoena’s murder and the arrest of her boyfriend, there has been a renewed focus on crimes against women, with fresh commitments being made to do something about it.

Our enthusiastic new Police Minister, Fikile Mbalula, who revealed that he had witnessed his own sister’s abuse at the hands of a boyfriend, is leading the charge, and has promised that no woman who goes to a police station to report rape or abuse will be turned away or have her case quashed.

Crime is one of the biggest threats to the freedom we are meant to be enjoying, with the social fabric of society eroded by those who have total disregard for the law and the human rights of others.

The time has come to mobilise society to fight this evil, from ministerial level to the provinces, from our cities to rural areas, from the police station to the pulpit, and organisations and individuals within our communities.

Mbalula is right: women have put up with abuse, both physical and psychological, for far too long.

We are not saying all men are “trash”, but would argue that not only those who participate in abuse, but every one among us who could have and yet didn’t do anything to stop it from happening or protect a woman, should wear that label.

A shout out to the media, both formal and informal, for highlighting this issue, and to those who have shown a determination to make a difference.

But what we need now is more than reporting, hashtags and promises.

Violence against women stems from a broken society which has lost its way, and getting on the road to recovery is a much harder thing to police or fix. But fix it we must.