‘Long jail terms futile’

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE: COMMUNITY-LEVEL EXAMPLES MUST BE SET

Length of sentence has no impact on men who don’t value women, says judge.

Locking up rapists and “throwing away the key” won’t solve underlying gender-based violence (GBV) problem, says retired Constitutional Court judge Edwin Cameron.

The legal process is an essential part of teaching men that women are not objects, and should not be violated, he said.

Cameron was speaking during a webinar hosted by the University of Johannesburg titled Reflections of a Retired Judge on Transformative Constitutionalism.

Cameron said his view was that taking a handful of rapists and men guilty of GBV, “locking them up and throwing away the key, as people like to say”, would not solve the underlying problem.

“I can say this with complete assurance, the length of sentence has no impact.

“It’s the certainty of prosecution, the certainty of arraignment and the certainty of sentencing, not how long,” he said.

“We’ve got to set the example at community level, about how women ought to be respected, honoured, valued and not trampled upon.

“It is a long process in which the law has a role, but in which wrong sentences and throwing away keys has no constructive role.”

During the webinar, Cameron also weighed in on the government’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

When asked to give his views about the lockdown regulations he said: “I think we have reenacted many of the mistakes made [when Aids beset].”

HIV/Aids taught the country that those who were the most vulnerable socially and structurally were the most affected.

“The second thing that Aids has taught us is that strong-arm tactics are wrong. I don’t say this to fight with General [Bheki] Cele or anyone else. I am speaking as a matter of four decades of history,” he said. “We have to respect people’s rights, we have got to lead people.” – News24 Wire