Africa: Every year in August, the whole Africa celebrates Women’s Month, whose motive is to pay tribute to the more than 20,000 women, but there is a strange incident coming forward in which nearly 8 women’s suffered a lot physically and mentally.
The President of the Africa National Congress (ANC) “Cyril Ramaphosa” also tweeted and showed his sadness by writing, “Rapists have no place in our society, but for those who commit such acts to be apprehended and prosecuted, communities have to give up criminals sheltering in their midst.”
https://twitter.com/CyrilRamaphosa/status/1554117525314609152
Last week, on Thursday, a group of men and women working for a music video at a disused mine near Krugersdorp were attacked by armed assailants who gang raped eight women.
These horrible acts of brutality insult women and girls’ right to live and work in freedom and safety.
While they pursue the suspects in this crime, the South African Police Service must also pay immediate attention to the concerns of the community of West Village, where the incident occurred, who say they are under siege from armed gangs in the area.
According to Cyril Ramaphosa, “Rapists have no place in our society, and there is an urgent need to call upon communities to work with the police to ensure that these criminals are apprehended and prosecuted. Our communities must not shelter criminals in their midst.”
Furthermore, he added that the culprit is always between us and might be our friend, a partner or a colleague, and some of us know them, but we choose to keep quiet because the criminal is our close one. Or we are just afraid and fear victimisation.
It is important to remember that all tip-offs received by the SAPS Crime Stop contact centre are treated confidentially.
Cyril Ramaphosa urged Africans to inform the authorities about the crime so Perpetrators could be arrested.
According to a new legal provision that came into effect, on 31 July 2022, in addition to our moral obligation, we all have a legal duty to report to authorities when we have knowledge, reasonable belief or suspicion that a sexual offence has been committed against a vulnerable person. It is now a crime not to report such a sexual offence.
This is also one of three laws that Cyril Ramaphosa signed earlier this year that strengthen the fight against gender-based violence and offer greater support and protection to survivors.
There is a need to work together in order to address the drivers of gender-based violence in our communities, including patriarchal attitudes and practices.