Dep Minister must face the music
According to findings by the Medical Research Council last year, one in four women is-+-+-++-+-+ abused physically by their partner or someone they know and, more shockingly, every six hours a woman is murdered by her current or former intimate partner.
And if you take into consideration the high statistics of violence against women and children, it is no wonder that we cannot commemorate Women’s Month without an incident of assault and death against women being recorded.
To wake up to the news that Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mduduzi Manana trampled a woman patron at Cubana nightclub in Fourways in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and also assaulted her friend, is one of the many incidents that we will sadly hear about this month.
Manana is said to have seen red when the women called him gay during an argument over the ANC’s succession race.
What they were arguing about is not the point. What is shocking is that he would have seen nothing wrong in attacking a woman in a public place in full view of other patrons. A video of the shameful incident has been shared on social media and witnesses have come forward.
An uncomfortable point to make is the complicit environment that we live in that continues to allow abusers to thrive.
In the incident, witnesses, bouncers and club management stood by as the abuse unfolded.
Many of us prefer to look the other way rather than intervening in cases of domestic violence.
This is what emboldens perpetrators to behave as if they have a licence to punish their victims.
The culture of violence in our country requires all of us to speak up and condemn it, and to support the victim to seek help.
The criticism of the response by the minister of police, that the law must take its course as being too soft, is correct.
The minister needs to ensure that in this particular case there is no favour for his colleague.
He must be held answerable for his actions through the proper channels in the criminal justice system. Manana must face the full might of the law.