Our first contributor for Rant, Black Womxn!, Nomhle Mtshemla is rightfully fed up. Fed up with the country's stance on gender-based violence and would like to see the government bring the changes that womxn deserve.
The scourge of gender-based violence in South Africa has reached an all-time high, although it has always been the case, there seems to be no end in sight - only dead bodies and victims.
Each and every day a woman in this country has to wonder when they will be next. We are constantly harassed, abused and killed by men- those who claim to love us and those we don’t even know.
We never know when it will be our name in the headlines if we’re lucky, or our name behind a hashtag, if people care enough. We live in a country where women have to bear the brunt of violence orchestrated against us by men in all spheres of our lives, where no one hears our cries. Where the government and state institutions as well the courts band together to facilitate and encourage violence against women and children.
A country that is more concerned with monetary crimes than violent crimes, with a justice system that lets sex offenders roam free, with low bail amounts or no amount at all because “they’re a first time offender.”
Where, if a woman has successfully bypassed the ridicule of police offices when opening a case, she will be met with disappointment in the court because they will let her perpetrators walk away.
Where criminals are protected more than victims, where men have a mindset so vile that we anticipate their evil actions and are forced to stay in unhealthy situations.
Where the police and minister don’t care about any violent cases reported because they do the same when they’re off duty - or even on duty. Where children can’t be children because their innocence is taken away.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!! WE ARE MORE THAN STATISTICS AND WE WILL FIGHT BACK
About the contributor: Nomhle Mtshemla- creative, BA graduate, feminist, LGBTQIA+, pan-African
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