Humiliating looters is unjust, says commission

THE Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) has condemned the widespread looting and vandalism in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and the treatment of the alleged looters in the aftermath.

The police and the SANDF have been criticised for their apparent heavy-handedness in operations to recover the goods that were looted from businesses in the provinces earlier this month.

Commission chairperson Tamara Mathebula said yesterday that “the CGE cannot (turn) a blind eye to various videos circulating in the social media platforms wherein men, women, the elderly and children were treated in an inhumane manner for stealing”.

She said there were ways of punishing people without having their rights infringed as purported in the videos the commission had seen.

“We were appalled by the unfortunate incident of women who were made to swim in something that looked like water/ alcohol spillage.

“No matter how angry those who made those women to do such an act, allegedly in Mamelodi Mall, were, it cannot be that women are objectified or demeaned in such a manner. Those women in the videos are mothers, sisters, and aunts to many. Imagine the humiliation they will suffer for having been subjected to such acts.”

The commission called for the incidents to be investigated and for punitive measures against those implicated.

The Constitution guaranteed everyone rights, including the alleged looters, and “the law must be applied but not in the manner in which people had their dignity and bodily integrity removed”, Mathebula said.