JOHANNESBURG - The hashtag #MenAreTrash was trending again on Monday following the news that yet another South African woman was brutally raped and murdered.
This came as South Africans prepared to observe 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. As reported earlier on Monday, Limpopo student Precious Ramabulana, from the Capricorn TVET College, was found dead on Sunday in a room that she was renting. She had been raped and stabbed 52 times.
"We have become a generation of self-destruction, a generation that live like animals. I'm lost for words for what happened to this dearest soul,” said one of Ramabulana’s lecturers, Stephen Mashitisho, on Facebook.
"I'm a man to start with, one that used to say that not all men are trash, but the label suit us until we stand together and come up with solutions to put an end to this horrific acts.”
While many Twitter users were confused as to why #MenAreTrash was trending again, many used the platform to express their anger at the ongoing brutal violence against women. “Go say that to Precious Ramabulana, a$$#@ole” said one user in response to one of the many who responded to the trend with “here we go again”.
“Another beautiful soul lost in the hands of a man who felt he was entitled to her,” @Lamola_Herold wrote on Twitter
“Precious is not the first one but can definitely be the last. Control your temper brothers. How can you hurt the very person who you promised to love and protect? #MenAreTrash”.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/MenAreTrash?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MenAreTrash https://t.co/yXCj4TSSzQ
— LAMOLA HEROLD SHAKES (@Lamola_Herold)
@makumbi_k2 wrote: “This is precious Ramabulana who was raped and stabbed 52 times to death on Saturday while she was in her room. Men have declared war against women.”
As is customary with this trend, there were men who felt the need to defend their gender from the mighty hashtag, one writing “On behalf of good men, we are not the same as these bad guys, some of them are trash, not all of them, my condolences to the lost families.”