By: Siki Dlanga
The fact that Enoch Godongwana’s head survived August and September as Finance Minister after a case of sexual assault was laid against him reveals that GBV is nowhere near the president’s priorities. Women’s lives have never mattered and black women’s lives especially. Just think back earlier this year when the media and politicians were calling for Lindiwe Sisulu’s head over a letter that addressed South African unresolved issues including the need for economic reconciliation and our unAfrican legal system. It is an easy thing it seems for men, women, black and white to find it fit to call for a black woman’s head for merely expressing an opinion in a democracy she and her family personally fought for. And yet when a powerful man is accused of violating a defenseless woman – there are no scores of daily articles written by enraged politically connected citizens, politicians, and journalists black, white, coloured, or Indian who dare call for his head. Violence against women – black women in particular – comes in many ways. It is always heavy handed and unwarranted. One cannot help but imagine what the woman who had an encounter with Godongwana had to deal with given the unfairness of GBV under any circumstances. How much more when the accused is the president’s right-hand man?
The ANCWL has been positioned for a long time to be the most potent weapon against GBV because it has authority to demand accountability in a manner no other organisation can. The ANCWL has not done as much as roar or be indignant about the Godongwana matter. Unfortunately, this is what we have come to expect of the ANCWL. It whimpers when you expect it to be a force for good. There is a lack of will to deal with GBV even in the ANCWL because how has it not demanded for Godongwana to step aside during Woman’s month? If there was a moment to give South African women confidence it was now. After all, the ANC has so much more to lose this time around. The least they can do is act like they care – at least now.
There was a breath of hope when ANC Social Transformation Subcommittee chair, Lindiwe Sisulu made a bold call for chemical castration of convicted rapists at the end of July. It was again women, many of whom were from the ANC who opposed this necessary strong actionable policy to curb the abuse of women. ENCA twitter account posted a feminist from the ANC who said chemical castration was “not practical.” Anti-GBV young men on social media responded with frustration at the endless theorising about the root causes of GBV when rape continues to ravage women. One man responded to that @eNCA interview with alarm stating that “these crimes are committed against women 99% of the time but yet you have a woman speaking against such a proposal.”
South Africa has locked up murderers, thieves and countless types of criminals and crimes. There are no robust debates about the root causes of murdering or stealing because believe me – there are root causes too. The most critical action is to deal with the crime by sending a person to jail, pay a fine and in the case of rape – it would be to chemically castrate the rapist. This stops the person from continuing with the crime as they are put away from their temptation. If the accused is found guilty of a crime -they must face consequences. Yes, we must deal with the root causes but we are tired of rape. It is time for men to respect women’s bodies not because they feel like it on that day but because there are real consequences that will be borne by their own bodies if they do not. This will quickly create environments where men take personal action to do whatever is necessary for them to stop raping or assaulting women. Those who care about the health rights and human rights of rapists cannot possibly override the health and human rights of raped babies, grandmothers, children, and women. Children and women have often died from being raped. Several countries are applying this method because they too are tired of not punishing rape as it should be. It is an assault on the woman’s body and so an equal measure must be on the man’s body.
Chemical castration wears off eventually. The man who is chemically castrated is better off than men from ancient times who would be castrated for no fault of their own but for a lifetime of service to a king or queen. Many of those castrated men lived to be great noble men. Part of the social outcry is because modern societies are oversexual as we see in the media. If people cannot manage their sexuality as was suggested about the Godongwana case along with many perpetrators, then they must be provided with medication that helps them manage without defiling women or children.
Why must it be normal for women to live in fear day and night, in the office, in massage paulor, at home among relatives or among neighbours? This is highly stressful. The ANCWL has been toying with this policy since 2017 and yet in practice the ANCWL is nowhere near protecting women.
There are no adamant protests from the ANCWL to remove Godongwana from his post and replace him with the first woman Finance Minister. There is in fact no noise and no demands from the ANCWL for a woman president or an ANC top 6 that is woman strong. The Women’s League is instead support men such Mashitile and Mkhize. Lindiwe Sisulu who is among the candidates nominated for presidential election by some ANC branches has received almost no support from the ANCWL itself. The reason is that the ANCWL has once again found another opportunity to show that it has no confidence in women’s leadership by going with male candidates. It boggles the mind. You would imagine that the ANCWL would insist on a woman president on its 110 year. Women such as Charlotte Maxeke would be disgusted to learn that a woman’s organisation has no agency whatsoever but exists to be subservient to men’s leadership in 2022.
It is a pity that even the ANCWL in the Eastern Cape steeped in a rich history of influential women such as Makhiwane, Maxeke, Sisulu, Madikizela-Mandela has only proven to be guardians of patriarchy. KZN in August were the only beacon of light in terms of strong female leadership representation. Had the Eastern Cape had a modicum of KZN pride and belief in their own people or had any pride in its long leadership heritage in the struggle for freedom, you would imagine that they would stop at nothing to support someone like Lindiwe Sisulu. Stunningly, as Mcebo Dlamini recently called the Eastern Cape people as people who with no pride or self-love when he was lamenting the detestable state of the EC as a whole. How did people who used to be the educators to other people groups become such a shadow of themselves in this generation? A young woman found it despicable that a person like Lindiwe Sisulu could be overlooked over all the male candidates because none of them are even close to her. How? She asked? Such is the state of our country. There are no standards. A woman will be more qualified, have a great track record and they will pick anyone even it’s someone implicated in a massacre or with a history of corruption over her as seen previously.
I came across an academic presentation by one of the Eastern Cape universities. Students were studying social media reactions during the July looting. One of the popular ones was a comment about how little love Eastern Cape people have for their own leaders compared to the rest of the country. The comment was satire which said, after amaZulu are done with fighting for Zuma to come out of jail Xhosa people must demand for the resurrection of Mandela. This was not for the resurrection itself but a compliment to the passion amaZulu exhibit for their leaders whatever you make of them. It must not be forgotten that Zuma himself would never have ascended to presidency without solid EC support which goes to prove the point about how the EC will support anyone but their own. Ramaphosa does the same. He depends on the EC for power even though it is home to corrupt leaders contrary to his pseudo anti-corruption campaign. Zuma became president after winning his rape case. At least there was a court case unlike the NPA which has declined to investigate Godongwana. This does not serve the fight against GBV because it sends a message that powerful men can violate and get away with it. The Remember Khwezi 9-1 campaign with 4 young women who forced the nation to remember Khwezi in a jaw dropping silent protest that silenced a televised speech and placed GBV as the main topic was a prime example of how women must hold those in power accountable for GBV. Silence is not an option. That protest deserves to be memorialised because GBV especially by the political class of men continues to be explained away and their victims continue to be silenced even by other women.
It is all the more crucial for the ANCWL to show some confidence in supporting women leaders and insist on Godongwana to be removed from position in favour of a woman. Chemical castration or any other form of sentencing GBV offenders is useless if it will only applies to those who possess no riches or political power. The failure to hold Godongwana accountable undermines the very policy that is proposed by the ANCWL. When justice scales are not even – there is no justice at all. All must be equal before the law and this is why we must insist for the powerful to be especially held accountable.
*Siki Dlanga is a politics and media analyst, poet and gender activists.
