Note to Editors: The speech below was delivered by Karabo Khakhau MPL in the sitting of the Free State Provincial Legislature, held at the Fourth Raadzaal on 15 November 2019 in Bloemfontein, during the debate on Gender-Based Violence.
She is a mother, daughter, an innocent child, sister, wife, girlfriend, fiancé, aunt, friend, grandmother. Yes, she is a woman but primarily she is a human being.
She is strong – the kind of strong that endures the pain of birth giving with grace. Speaker, she doesn’t have to be.
She is resilient – her kind of resilience is comparable to a sirloin tea bag that still produces magnificent taste after having been put through 5 cups of boiling water. Speaker, she still doesn’t have to be.
She has and continues to endure emotional, psychological, physical and spiritual torture when her only sin is her existence. Speaker, but because she is a woman, like a tree in a hurricane, she remains standing. Oh, but wait, this is not always true, others don’t get to live to see the rainbow.
Yes, she gives you life, hope, love and is power’s very own definition! Yet all this she has to fight for!
Honourable Speaker, the Honourable Deputy Speaker, the Chair of Chairs, the Chief Whip, the Honourable Premier, Members of the Executive Council, Leader of the Official Opposition, Honourable Members, the Legislative Staff, Leaders of all industries, guests in the gallery, the media, setjhaba sa Modimo ka kakaretso, I stand here before you as a woman. A woman bathed in fear and full of questions:
was it really my fault, asked the short skirt.
No, it happened to me to me too, replied the burkha.
And the helpless diapper in the corner couldn’t even speak yet.
When will my womanhood be celebrated? For how much longer do I still need to fight for my safety? For how much longer do I need to explain that my body is a temple worthy of respect? For how much longer am I supposed to continue counting down to the second my brothers, father, uncles, school teacher, neighbour, boyfriend, fiancé, husband, friend and all the other sad excuses of men in my society decide to take ownership of my body, soul, mind and spirit? For how much longer am I going to be a prisoner in my own society?
Speaker, it was in July this year when the Premier, a woman, stood before this house performing her pain regarding the violent state of our province against women. During this performance, she made a commitment to ensure the safety of woman. I call this a performance because it was as good as a scene out of a movie script, she had no interest in making a reality.
Women in this Province continue to, day and night, walk the streets with the uncertainty of ever getting to wherever they have to be safe. Women in this province are even scared to report cases of violence because of the possible harassment by police officers- asking questions like: u ne u ntse u ea kae? U moentse eng ha a tla qetella ha entse seo a se entseng? U n e u apereng? As if this is not enough, the same women have to be told, we can’t help you. Why? Because we do not have a rape kit.
Speaker, there are 110 Police station in this Province. Out of these 110 stations only 10% of the police stations (of the 110 existing Police stations only 11) in the province have the necessary tools to collect evidence from an adult rape victim. Moreover, of the required number of adult rape kits in the province, only 8.3% of SAPS stations have these available! The other 90.7% have dololo adult rape kits. Ha diyo! The Province needs and is supposed to have 3 621 adult rape kits but only has 340.
BoMme le boNtate, the situation is worse when it comes to the number of child rape kits necessary throughout the Province. 97.3% of police stations in this province do not have child rape kits! Of the 12 516 child rape kits necessary, the province only has 340. Lesang bana batle ho nna hoba mmuso oa maholimo ke o aba joalo ka bona. Ho riyalo Morena. Feela rona lefatsheng re sitoa ho ba tshireletsa .
This is indicative of the governing party’s commitment to ensure that the state has all the necessary infrastructure to deal with this plague. This commitment does not exist!
Speaker, we have seen the latest crime stats. These stats have shown an increase in the number of rape, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, murder and attempted murder relating to sexual offence cases in the Province. With all these increases, imagine how many other cases have been flushed down the toilet simply because police stations either didn’t have the tools necessary to gather evidence from a rape kit, the necessary adult and/or child rape kits and enough police officers available at each station?
Yet we claim to have a government that is for the people! No! this is a lie. Woman, you are on your own.
The time for poor excuses is over! Premier, you can no longer claim that you have tried and that u Mosadi oa sebele setjhabeng for as long as your executive and your office exist under such a reality. We have nothing to celebrate. All we have is a province soaked in blood! Our hands are full of blood! Our thighs are a gushing blood fall. Our homes and streets are made of blood. The blood of women.
The Democratic Alliance has, in this house, tabled a community policing bill that aims to increase oversight over our police force. Yet nothing to date is being done to benefit the people of this province. MEC Mashinini, I think it way beyond time now! Use the bill and set our people free.
This, however, is not the only truth. Speaker, society at large has adopted a restrictive understanding of gender and violence. To most gender is only true and existent so far as the existence of heterosexual and cis-gendered beings are concerned. The consideration of homosexual and non cis-gendered human being such lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transsexual, queer-bodied, intersexual, asexual and more identifying beings which are commonly referred to as members of the LGBTQIA++ community is non-existent.
Speaker it is only fair that, when we talk about and work on ways to correct gender-based violence that we become non discriminatory in our recognition, in line with the Constitution that governs this nation.
In the same spirit, we have to be all-encompassing in our recognition and reflection of violence. It is not enough for us to recognise physical abuse. How many times in society do human beings suffer emotional bruises based on their gender? How many times do men suffer emotional, financial and psychological abuse at the hands of the women in their lives? How many times do women suffer emotional and psychological damage at the hands of their loved ones and other women in society? How many times do members of the LGBTQIA++ experience social exclusions at the hands of their own families, churches, schools and general society? This too is a type of violent culture that has no room in our society. South Africa is a beautiful country and belongs to all those who live in it!
Speaker, the responsibility of making the Province safe and dismantling the shackles of patriarchy in this world is not just that of the government. It a collective societal responsibility that starts with apology letters from all our parents. The first letter reads:
Our dear daughter,
We are sorry for all the times that we have raised you to dress, behave and exist in any particular way that sought to give power to a boy. We are sorry for all the times we raised you to believe that women are domestic and community slaves for the comfort and satisfaction of men. We are sorry for all the times that we raised you to believe that in order to attract and keep a man you had to be silent and reduce yourself. We are sorry for all the times we told you: Lebitla la mosadi ke mohadi. We are sorry for all the times that you came home crying, as a little girl, because a boy hit you while you were playing and we told you not to be silly because of course, he likes you. We are sorry for all the times we raised you to believe that independent women are not marriage material. We are sorry for all the times we told you it was ok to use your body to get what you want and need. We are sorry for all the times we taught you to believe that leaving a man you are unhappy with in search for your peace and happiness elsewhere makes you a Jezebel.
We are sorry. We were meant to raise you to understand your worth instead of making your life a subject of a man’s choice.
We are sorry…
The second letter reads:
Our dear son,
We are sorry for all the times we raised you to believe you can break whichever rules your sisters, female cousins, friends and peers couldn’t- all simply because you are male. We are sorry for raising you to believe that women are the natural subjects of men. We are sorry for all the times we raised you to believe that you do not have to cook, clean and be domesticated because that makes you weak. We are sorry for all the times we raised you to believe that the definition of a man’s strength is not being honest about and owning up to their fears, insecurities, emotions for, this too, makes you weak. Son, we are sorry for raising you to believe that being with an outspoken and independent woman makes you weak. We are sorry for all the times we let you believe that lelapa le senang nyatsi ha leo.
We are sorry. We were meant to raise you to respect and value all humans.
We are sorry…
Honourable speaker, patriarchy is a deeply entrenched systematic bully against women which is kept alive by our very own traditions, prejudices and, most importantly, our silence. This house, the executive and society have the power to collectively kill its spirit and create a new day! For God and our nation, this will be a day where human being can be afforded the same freedoms and existence. Let us not waste our power, together we can!
Ha Morena a boloke setjhaba sa rona. Let the forever mighty spirits of women be saved.
Thank you.