SA Rocks is proudly and positively South African. If you read this blog you’ll know that. But at the same time I am not ignorant or blind and many times in the past I have spoken about troubles that SA incurs.
This is one of those times.
It is Rape Awareness Week at Rhodes University. The below comments were sent to me via Facebook by a friend of mine.
On Wednesday 30 April, myself and 149 other female Rhodes University students will be taping our mouths shut from 7am until 6pm in solidarity with women who have survived rape. We will go without food and water for the whole day. At present in South Africa, rape rates are soaring with little or no acknowledgment from the government about the crisis on our hands. The levels of violence against women are intolerable and the lack of support structures for survivors of violence worsens an already poor situation. At present, every 26 seconds a woman in South Africa is raped. Of those, only 1 in 9 reports the rape. Of those women, few are successful at trial because they are put on trial by prosecutors and asked why they wore what they did, said what they did or went where they went. This is not acceptable. The continued violence against women must be stopped.
On Wednesday, please take the time to think about those women who are brave survivors of violence, rape, hatred, subordination and oppression. This violence takes place under the facade of democratic freedoms that we are believed to have here. Do not practice quiet diplomacy – speak out about this violence.
‘When you don’t speak out against injustice, you are complicit in its perpetuation.
Jen Thorpe
Popularity: 7% [?]
