Pretoria - Societal attitudes towards emotional, verbal and physical abuse against women and a prevailing sense of impunity by men could be the source of the brutal attacks on South African women.
There has been outrage and public debate since the Pretoria News published an article about a Hammanskraal man, Phuti Malema, 34, who cut off the genitals of his girlfriend Mapula Malemone.
Malemone said since her relationship with Malema began in 2005, he had never been physically abusive towards her.
“We shouted at each other like any other couple, but he never raised a hand to me,” she said.
Malemone, who is wheelchair-bound as a result of the incident, said apart from the damage to her genitals, Malema stabbed her in the back of the head. As a result, she was struggling to walk again.
“The doctors haven’t really given me a full diagnosis, but for now I simply can’t put my feet on the ground completely,” she said. The mother of three said she and her children had not received counselling yet as she was still recovering physically from her ordeal.
She said she would deal with that after her operations.
“I have an operation on August 5 to my left leg, which is causing me the most discomfort, and hope I will be able to put my feet down properly afterwards,” she said.
Experts on gender violence, however, said crimes against women in South Africa had almost become a normal occurrence and only received attention when they were exceptionally gruesome.
Sonke Gender Justice spokesman Mbuyiselo Botha said the unaltered attitudes towards violence and crimes directed at women could be the underlying problem leading to such incidents.
Botha said in society there seemed to be a prevailing sense that men could get away with crimes against their spouses.
“It’s like traditionally there’s the culture that a woman’s body and voice belong to the man. If she doesn’t comply, then she is to be reprimanded like a child,” he said.
“A woman can be empowered in the outside world, but the man of the house maintains and sustains the power.
“Perpetrators also have no fear of accountability as they exploit weaknesses of police work either by taking down statements incorrectly or forensic evidence being mixed up,” said Botha.
Romi Sigsworth, gender specialist at the Institute for Security Studies, agreed and said the brutal attack on Malemone was gruesome, but many more cases often went unreported.
“The rate of violence in South Africa is very high and it has become normal to many of us. In some instances you find men are brought up with a sense of entitlement to a woman’s body. Therefore, if they suspect they are losing their power, they need to regain it by instilling fear in that woman,” Sigsworth said.
“A man prone to act violently, coupled with the intake of substances could aggravate and fuel that rage. Childhood experience of resolving conflict through violence could also manifest later in life and be expressed more gruesomely.”
Pretoria News