PRETORIA, South Africa. (AP) — A crowd of protesters staged a demonstration against gender-based violence in the South African capital of Pretoria on Friday as part of a national outcry after an alleged rape of a 7-year-old girl.
This is the latest protest sparked by allegations that the girl, referred to as Cwecwe to protect her identity, was raped at her school last year and that the matter was only reported a month later.
Last week, thousands protested in the city of Cape Town and earlier this week another demonstration took place in Matatiele, an area where the alleged rape took place.
Demonstrators were dressed in mostly all-black outfits and held placards with slogans condemning the scourge of rape and violence against women and children.
The protesters have called on the South African government to declare gender-based violence a national crisis and impose the harshest sentences on those convicted of related crimes. While the attack on the 7-year-old girl was in November, her mother has recently been speaking out frequently, saying she has felt let down by the justice system.
Reigning Miss South Africa Mia le Roux was among those who attended the protests and called on the government to do more to fight gender-based violence in the country.
“I’m here because I want to add my voice to the voices of all these women that are gathered here today because we have decided that enough is enough,” she said. “We are hearing too many stories of our sisters being hurt, and I want our leaders to know that this is really a natural disaster.”
Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, deputy leader of the political party Build One SA, said the government should declare a state of emergency and show the political will to deal with the problem.
“We are here to say that the way justice system works in this country is not conducive to curbing and actually killing this gender-based violence and femicide crisis that we have,” said Hlazo-Webster.
She also called for the government to publish the sex offender register so that people convicted of these crimes may be known so that women and children can be protected from them.
Activist Themba Masango, who leads the organization Not In My Name which advocates against gender-based based violence, called on men to take responsibility and lead the fight.
Rape and attempted sexual offenses from October to December last year declined by 3% compared to 2023, according to the latest crime statistics published in February by the police ministry.
However, sexual assault and contact sexual assault cases reported increased during the same period.
Nearly two thirds of the 11,803 rapes were committed in the perpetrators or victims’ homes.
A fifth took place in public spaces while night clubs, schools and universities were also places of violence, according to those statistics.
