Disgraced leaders above the law

The Mail & Guardian’s page three editorial (“Women’s Month just proves it: Our leaders are trash”, August 11) is spot on. The latest attack on a woman by a minister of the state, Deputy Education Minister Mduduzi Manana, sums up a litany of disgusting events, starting with the woman who was strong enough to get Jacob Zuma charged with rape.

The balance of proof in a patriarchal act is difficult in a society based on misogyny. The despicable part is that Zuma thought he could wash his sins, and HIV, away. The ANC Women’s League supported him.

Let’s not forget Julius Malema’s “taxi-fare” jibe, or the ANC’s enforcer, the super-smooth minister in the presidency, Jeff Radebe — transmitting pornographic images is against the Posts and Telecommunications Acts — but all we got was a staged apology. Dismissal and counselling may have been better.

The video of Manana beating a woman while his friends held her went viral, but there was a deafening silence from the ANC until social media had reached fever pitch. Even then, neither the minister nor his friends were arrested. After almost a week, the police drove him to court.

These are the politicians elected to govern South Africa in the interest of the people. —