Are females expendable in South Africa?
Annual initiatives that are meant to celebrate and support women, as well as highlight concerns such as violence against them, are largely ceremonial, mechanical, technical, tick-box exercises with little impact, according to Brij Maharaj, a geography professor at UKZN who writes in his
personal capacity.
ANY form of violence against women represents a violation of their human rights and dignity.
In October 2016, the Sonke Gender Justice group questioned: “How many more people need to be violated, assaulted and murdered before our government takes the scourge of genderbased violence seriously?”
In theory, South Africa has excellent regulations to support the empowerment of women, promote gender equality and oppose oppression, and all forms of violence against females. The Constitution forbids any form of discrimination. The Commission for Gender Equality, a Chapter 9 institution, “must promote respect for gender equality and the protection, development and attainment of gender equality”. Moreover, there is also a Ministry of Women.
Women and their achievements are celebrated and strategies to overcome the hurdles they encounter are highlighted during the month of August. There is also the UN-driven initiative, “from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to December 10, Human Rights Day. The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanise action to end violence against women and girls around the world”. However, these have been largely ceremonial, mechanical, technical, tick-box exercises with little impact.
According to the latest data from StatsSA, 21% (one in five) women were victims of violence in South Africa. According to police records, between April and December 2016 “14 333 people were murdered in South Africa and there were 37 630 sexual offences”. At least 40% of women were victims of intimate partner violence (IPV), according to studies conducted by the South African Medical Council.
According to KPMG, “gender-based violence cost between 0.9% and 1.3% of South Africa’s GDP in 2012-13”.
There was concern that the Minister of Women, Susan Shabangu “has not shown either courage or solidarity with the victims of rape, physical abuse and murder”. Perhaps stung by such criticism, Minister Shabangu argued: “We need to be a community, we need to care. The scourge we are facing is getting worse, South Africa is under siege. There is evil. There is a devil who is here in South Africa”. Who is the devil? The government appears to be reluctant or unable to enforce laws so that offenders can be punished. This may well be because some of the perpetrators are high profile politicians and government bureaucrats. This will be illustrated with reference to two examples.
There has been an understandable public outrage about the alleged assault of a woman by Deputy Higher Education Minister Mduduzi Manana on August 7 at the Cubana restaurant at Fourways. The Deputy Minister admitted: “my actions and those of the people in my company have disappointed and hurt many people in the country. As a leader, I should have known better and acted better. I will subject myself fully to the process of the law and give it my full co-operation”.
Manana has not taken the next ethical step, resigning from his post, and President Zuma has not suspended or dismissed him.
The Women’s League of the ANC initially condemned Manana’s actions: “Such behaviour is unacceptable and should be roundly condemned by all in our society. Regardless of the circumstances or the identity of the perpetrator or victim, violence against women is the shame of our times and inimical to the call the ANC has consistently made, that we seek a South Africa where ‘a young woman in the middle of the night, can walk alone without the fear of assault, attack or rape, going back home from wherever she comes from’”. A Sunday paper subsequently listed a series of incidents where Manana allegedly abused, exploited and humiliated his staff, especially women.
ANC Women’s League president, Bathabile Dlamini subsequently maintained they would not be part of “games” demanding Manana resign or be dismissed. She stated that senior members in the party had engaged in more vile actions than Manana but refused to identify them. “The time has come for them to know that if they want to be our leaders they should be clean when it comes to the issues of women”.
Perhaps in response to the social media outrage, Dlamini subsequently stated that the ANC should develop a policy on abuse of women.
The second example is the case of Ambassador to Indonesia Norman Mashabane (who passed away on October 10, 2007 in an accident), and harks back to the early 2000s, during the Thabo Mbeki era. In 2001, Mashabane was found guilty on 21 counts of workplace sexual harassment, “including stroking an employee’s buttocks, molesting a staff member in a lift and making suggestive motions with his tongue to another”. The disciplinary committee recommended his dismissal, but he retained his post, pending an appeal.
In June 2003, a senior embassy official, Lara Swart, instituted sexual harassment charges against Mashabane. He was found guilty and, once again, the disciplinary committee recommended his dismissal and he appealed yet again. The complainant was subsequently transferred to Korea.
On June 3, 2004, the Minister of Foreign Affairs “told parliament she believed that some of the women in the harassment case had colluded to frame Mashabane because he had uncovered a car scam involving staff at the embassy”. However, Mxolisi Nkosi, who presided in one of Mashabane’s disciplinary hearings, described him as an unreliable witness, and “found no link between the complainant and the car conspiracy”.
The Public Servants’ Association and Lara Swart appealed to the courts to reverse the decision of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to uphold Mashabane’s appeals. On December 1, 2006, Deputy Judge President Jerry Shongwe, ruled: “The finding of guilt on three charges of sexual harassment and the sanction of dismissal is confirmed”. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nkosanana Dlamini Zuma, was “ordered to apologise to Mashabane’s victim and pay her legal costs”.
Unfortunately, this sad, sorry saga did not end here. Notwithstanding his conviction, Mashabane subsequently served as an adviser to Limpopo Premier Sello Moloto, and on March 13, 2007, he became a member of the Limpopo provincial legislature.
Connie Zikalala, IFP spokesperson on gender issues, said: “The appointment of Norman Mashabane to the Limpopo provincial legislature flies in the face of everything that is decent… The ANC is sending out the message that even though you are convicted of sexual harassment, you will still be rewarded with a high-profile appointment as a public servant.”
Ten years later, not much has changed.