Reporting rape will reduce more cases

While sentencing a rapist recently, Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala lamented how the courts were overflowing with rape cases. A report released in July indicated that there were 124 cases of rape between the months of April and June, an increase of 11,7 percent in comparison to the same period last year. It is disturbing to live in a violent society where you have to look over your shoulder all the time. What should disturb us even more is the reality of many rape cases going unreported, which might be exacerbating the situation as the criminals continue to roam freely, preying on more women.

People don’t report rape for reasons varying from fear of being shunned by the family if the assailant is a member of that family, promises of recompense, lack of faith in the justice system, fear of being judged by society, and where married women are concerned, fear of being rejected by husbands.  The society we live in is not always sympathetic to rape victims, unless if it happened during a home invasion or the woman got waylaid. If the aggressor is known to the woman, she is usually made to feel like the architect of her ordeal – “What was she doing there in the first place? What was she wearing? She must have seduced him. They must have been in a relationship.” It suddenly stops being about the dastardly crime that has been committed but justification of why it was done and how the woman could have avoided it if she didn’t want it. The rapist becomes the victim: poor man, what could he have done with the woman delivering herself to him on a silver platter like that? Men who rape don’t do so because they were provoked in some way. They do so because they are criminals, and criminals belong in jail. Rape can happen to anyone. Even men are not immune to it. If it was your mother or daughter that got raped, would you try to justify why it could have happened to them and exonerate the attacker?

It made sad reading when the woman that was allegedly raped at the Manzini Wanderers Clubhouse, and initially chose not to press charges against her alleged assailants, was flogged via social media. One person said she brought the rape on herself by dancing seductively. Dancing in a certain way or drinking at a certain hour is not an invitation to violation. Others questioned why she was drinking at night with men. A reader even misdirected his sympathy by saying, “Poor husband!” I refuse to believe the cliché that men are dogs which can’t control themselves. Rape is not really about irrepressible urges. It’s an expression of power by cowards who target those that they presume are vulnerable to them.

Senelisiwe Zwane, a social worker who deals with offenders, said in about eight out of 10 cases, rapists never own up to their offence. The few who do admit twist the facts in ridiculous ways to make themselves look less guilty. She gave the example of an 80 year-old convicted of rape who blatantly claimed that he was asleep under a guava tree which his granddaughter climbed with no panties and unfortunately fell and landed on his manhood. Zwane said most of those who admitted claimed to be in relationships with the victims.

In a random survey, out of 12 married women, only five said they would definitely tell their husbands and report to the police in the event of rape. (Read their exact responses here.) The others were wary of telling “uncaring” husbands for fear of the blame being laid squarely at their feet, preferring to just report to the police. There were many “hmm, aaahs, we’ll have to see”. There are horrific tales of men whose wives got raped and the men became so repulsed that they did not want to touch their wives again, resulting in the collapse of marriages. One woman, Rejoice, said she would tell her husband but would not bother to tell the police because she had no faith in them. It’s hard to blame her, considering what happened to Cebsile Khumalo of Nhlangano (Swazi News September 19). She bravely fought off an aspiring rapist and reported him to the police, but the case never saw the light of day after the police reportedly concluded that there was no witness hence struck the matter off the court roll. Rapists don’t usually rape people at a crowded market place. Usually the victim is the only witness and should get her day in court, which makes the way this case was handled quite perplexing. If allegations that the attacker had raped before are true, then it is a much bigger problem.

Regardless of cases like Khumalo’s falling through the cracks, there is reason to have faith in our justice system. Rapists are getting convicted almost on a daily basis, although more continue to commit the same crime. It’s now time to roll in the big guns on this scourge, no more treating it as a hush-hush affair. What probably needs to be done is to sensitize the public a lot more about rape: that it is a revolting and violent crime that everyone should fight against, all cases must be reported, and victims need support and sympathy, not verbal abuse on top of the psychological torment they already have. There needs to be even more discussion with younger children too, and listen carefully to what they say. Gone are the days of “children should be seen and not heard”. We should tell them over and over to report anyone who touches them in any sexual way or abuses them, even if they are threatened.

McolisiColani Vilakati was jailed 30 years in July for raping two children under the age of 10 (Times of Swaziland July 28). The children told their grandmother, but she sat on that intelligence and thought they meant he proposed love to them. What a letdown! It is important to report rape timeously in order to get access to a prophylactic within the stipulated time to avoid sexually transmitted infections, and emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy. There might also be need to collect evidence before it gets tainted and for the rapist to be caught before he gets time to spin his web of lies. Reporting rape is not easy because of the delicate details involved, but in the interest of justice, it has to be done. One has to consider the repercussions of not reporting. You will always know that the maniac is out there, ready to pounce on his next victim or even come back for you. Maybe you will even see him every day if he’s known to you, gloating and walking scot-free with an extra spring in his step while you’re crumbling inside. Not getting reported makes the attacker more brazen and the attacks may escalate to serial status or even murder. You don’t want it to get to that; it has to be nipped in the bud.