Survivors show their scars, tell emotive stories at summit
THE woman who was kidnapped, kept in a house in Tembisa and raped by eight men over several days years ago, yesterday recounted the horrors she suffered at the hands of the gang.
Phindile Ncube was speaking during the Gender-based Violence and Femicide Summit in Irene attended by various civil society organisations, including traditional leaders and faithbased organisations.
Ncube said she had to undergo five surgeries on her stomach as a result of the attack – including one to remove plastic that had been inserted into her during the rape.
The emotional Ncube spoke of the pain of seeing her attackers back on the streets after serving only four years.
She lifted her black dress, leaving her abdominal area exposed for all – including President Cyril Ramaphosa – to see the scars. She wore nothing under the dress. “Our lives can’t be paroled, Mr President; the minimum sentence for sex offenders must be at least 50 years,” Ncube said.
The two-day summit continues today and was convened by the president after marches against gender-based violence by formations such as 100 Men March and #TotalShutdown. The summit is aimed at finding ways to address the widespread femicide and women abuse in the country.
Martha Marumo, who is serving a life sentence at Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre for the murder of her husband, also shared her story.
Accompanied by prison warders, she told the summit she was incarcerated in 2005 after she killed her husband in self-defence during a domestic violence incident. As she was about to leave the venue, the audience broke into a song, appealing Ramaphosa to immediately release her.
Activists against women abuse also staged a silent protest while Ramaphosa was delivering his keynote address at the event. The women wore black and held high female underwear with messages calling for the violence against women to stop.
During his address, Ramaphosa said South Africa was a country with relatively high levels of violence and criminality and this could no longer be accepted. According to the SAPS Crime Statistics report of 2018, femicide increased by 11% over the last two years. “We cannot, and will not, rest until we have brought those figures down to zero. We are aiming for a femicide rate of zero per 100 000.”
Survivors who shared their stories complained that the police and the court system were not equipped and lacked capacity to effectively assist victims of gender-based violence and sexual assault. Ramaphosa said this needed to improve and encouraged women to voice their concerns. Later, a panel of abuse, rape, violence and human trafficking survivors shared their chilling experiences at the hands of their partners and perpetrators. Their testimonies left many, including Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete, emotional.
Another survivor shared a story of how she ended up in a wheelchair after being stabbed by her ex-boyfriend while sleeping. He also stabbed her child 14 times. She said the offender was sentenced to 20 years, but served only five years and would be released in January. | Additional reporting: Brenda Masilela African News Agency (ANA)