Demanding justice, being heard

On 24 March 2006, two of HIVAN?s researchers joined a frontline protest at the Durban High Court as part of the national One-in-Nine Campaign, in honour of our courageous daughters, sisters and mothers who endure the physical, emotional and mental agony of rape, either in silence or in the cold glare of court proceedings.

Phumzile Ndlovu and Fiona Scorgie both work in different rural communities in KZN, bringing them face-to-face with the suffering of women, men and children dehumanised by poverty, disease and violence. They joined many others outside the Court building to speak about, with and for the thousands of women afflicted by rape, sexual abuse and HIV infection in our country, whose voices cannot be heard.?

Describing the gathering, Fiona was impressed by the women?s solidarity across races, gender and age, and their connection with each another as a mix of activists with a variety of occupations.? ?What united us was our anger at the way women, and especially rape complainants, are treated in society. This fury drove us to stand together for several hours in the hot sun, holding placards, fixing banners to trees, and singing songs in support of rape survivors.??

Phumzile?s experience of the protest was different, but equally emotional.? ?This was the first time I had taken part in a protest of this kind, and my heart cried as I looked around at the tall buildings and the women taking their stand, all so full of power! In the rural communities where I work and live, there are no protests, because women have no power or resources.? Terrible things are going on in those mud-huts: fathers and uncles are abusing children, and there are many repeated rapes of young girls and women by teachers and other authority figures, but it is covered up in secrecy, shame and fear.?
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?When I was on those steps,? says Phumzile, ?I was aching for all those women and girls, whose families often protect the rapist in return for R200 cash or some food or school-fees. It is assumed that this crime is ?cleansed? by these pay-outs, but we should be protesting about this to our local councillors and nkhosi in the same way that we did in town.?

In a media statement lobbying for the One-in-Nine Campaign, the International Community of Women Living With HIV/AIDS (ICW) urged governments around the world to recognise that HIV-positive women are often more vulnerable to violence, and that every women has the right to live without fear of rape, sexual abuse and shaming through the court system.? The ICW points out that with the very low conviction rates for rape and nearly non-existent legal services for rape victims in South Africa, the epidemic of rape cannot be halted.

The greater concern underlying these protests - which took place in major centres across the country - was that healing and health for men and women, young and old, in this era of HIV/AIDS, cannot be achieved unless the nation?s laws fall into line with the rights of all people to safety and security, and are applied without fear or favour.

Fiona said that the responses of passing motorists, who hooted, waved and shouted their support through open car windows as they drove by, was encouraging.? The placards carried the messages: ?AGAINST HER WILL, AGAINST THE LAW!? and ?8 OUT OF 9 ARE SILENCED?, referring to the heavy obstacles that prevent women who have been raped from claiming their rights and reporting the crime.?

Another important message was ?NOT JUST FACES AND VAGINAS!? to say that women deserve to be recognised as the complete human beings that they are, and not merely objects of sexual desire, or for use as servants.

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