Staff Reporter
Free State Legislature Speaker Zanele Sifuba has lamented the increasing cases of gender-based violence (GBV) in the province as well as the rest of the country, saying women’s lives are at risk.
She said this during a virtual post-budget media briefing Thursday and urged communities to work closely with the police and other authorities to bring perpetrators to book.
“Gender-based violence has shown that women in South Africa still have a lot to fight for,” she said in a brief delivery in which she highlighted the importance of the Women’s Month which is celebrated every August in the country.
“. . . it’s like it’s an everyday thing in our space in South Africa. I think for as long as we don’t manage to reduce and ultimately deal with the issue . . . it is very difficult to celebrate the successes that women have achieved.
“But I must also say we are going to need both men and women to be able to deal with GBV.
“We need to deal with what is wrong in our society but for us to deal with that matter, we need to heal the society.”
One effective way of doing this, according to the speaker, is to take care of the boy child and give him a better upbringing.
“We need to take care of the emotionally injured young men out there that end up hurting women like they are right now,” she pointed out.
Sifuba also celebrated women for their achievements in politics and other fields where they now lead.
She urged women to keep supporting and uplifting each other.
Deputy Speaker Lucy Mapena suggested that a possible reason for today’s “sick society” could be that the boy child feels left out.
“Maybe we are having this sick society today with GBV statistics going up because we have been celebrating the girl child, forgetting our sons,” Mapena said.
“Maybe our boys feel neglected because at some point we were even taking the girl child to work so they get to know what we do.
“Maybe we have to go back as a society and address that,”
National crime statistics released by the police last week confirmed the concerns shared by Sifuba and Mapena.
While there were marked declines in most crime categories in the province, police say there was an increase of 8.4 percent in sexual offences, from 3 457 to 3 746 cases between April 2019 and March 2020.
By definition, sexual offences are sexual activities that a person has not consented to, and can refer to a broad range of sexual behaviours that make a victim feel uncomfortable, frightened or threatened.
Such offences include rape, sexual assault, attempted sexual offence and contact sexual offence.
Rape was up 11 percent from 2 646 to 2 936 cases.
Some of the worst rape incidents recorded in the province with multiple offenders include a case in Phuthaditjhaba, eastern Free State, in which the victim was walking home with friends when she was kidnapped by eight men who later took turns to rape her.
In Dealesville, a learner was raped inside a stadium by seven fellow learners for two days in succession.
In Virginia, the victim was accosted by unknown men while going to an outside toilet at night – they dragged her to an open field where she was raped by seven men.
According to police, boys aged 10-17 years old were getting involved in crime more than girls.
Nationally, at least 743 boys were charged with murder last year compared to girls who only numbered 36.
There were 3 058 sexual offences committed by children in the country, of which 2 569 were rape cases.
However, there was a drop of 27.4 percent in crimes committed by children in the province, from 62 to 45 cases.