The sentencing of Sandile Mantsoe for the murder of Karabo Mokoena to an effective 32 years in prison is welcome, as was the Constitutional Court’s rejection of Oscar Pistorius’s application for leave to appeal last month. Our courts seem ready to join the fight against abuse.
The executive and the legislature, on the other hand, are showing signs of inertia when it comes to dealing with issues of women’s empowerment. This week’s allegations against Mduduzi Manana, the former deputy minister of higher education, and his subsequent lies exposed on TimesLive, cast a shadow over the so-called new dawn when it comes to dealing decisively with the abuse of women and violence against them.
Despite his conviction and sentence for attacking a woman at a Johannesburg nightclub last year, parliament saw fit to keep him as an MP. This month he was accused of shoving his domestic worker down a staircase. So far no visible action has been taken to send a message that this behaviour will not be tolerated.While his case was still fresh in the minds of South Africans, another male MP threatened a fellow ANC MP (a woman) with violence during a heated altercation in parliament. I am not aware that this MP was disciplined in any way by parliament or even the ANC.
National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete, after Manana was convicted last year of the crime he committed while a deputy minister, claimed that as a member of the executive he had to be dealt with by the executive authority. She did not act against him, and the then president, Jacob Zuma, did not bother either. The only parliamentary “action ”was as a result of a complaint by the official opposition.
This is a disgrace. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s evasive response in parliament this week when he was asked what action would be taken against Manana was terribly ill-advisedbut, sadly, not surprising. The words are there during the song and dance of Women’sDay and 16 days of activism, but the rest of the time women ’s issues are treated with disdain.
The president showed this contempt when out of all the capable women in his cabinet he deployed one of the worst ministers we have ever seen, Bathabile Dlamini —who wasdeclared incompetent by the highest court of this land — as minister of women.There is no shortage of policies and laws that point to what needs to be done to remedy the precarious situation of women. But there is an absence of political will in the legislature and the executive to make this a priority. The new dawn is still night for the millions of women who are suffering.
In the past two weeks the bodies of women have been recovered from rivers and after being abandoned in the veld. This matter must be made a national emergency.
The fact that it has not been yet is partly due to the entrenchment of patriarchy at the highest levels of society. Just look at the ANC top six, with one woman among them —what chance is there even of serious discussion about gender, let alone action?
Why have the stories of men in power abusing women not come to an end?
How do we ever hope to create a sense of safety for our women if men in powerful positions don’t lead by example and if women in similar positions don’tmake sure genderissues are at the top priority?
How can an institution led by two powerful women — Mbete and Thandi Modise — justify harbouring a convicted woman-beater in its midst?In the executive you have Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and in the Presidency there is Dlamini — and yet the president claims to be none the wiser in parliament about a high-profile gender case. They should at least have brought the Manana allegations to his attention and helped to formulate his response.
It will never be a new dawn if the sun does not shine for the women of our land.
Tabane is a broadcaster..