HOW FAR MUST WE MARCH, MR PRESIDENT?

Tshegofatso Pule was eight months pregnant when her body was found, stabbed and hanging from a tree, in June 2020. Anele Tembe, fiancée of South African rapper Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes, apparently jumped to her death from a hotel balcony after an argument with him in April 2021. Anele’s friends came forward with allegations that she was in an abusive relationship with Kiernan, and video footage of her hiding from him, terrified. These are just two high-profile cases; there are thousands.

Reports of domestic violence and sexual abuse skyrocketed during the countrywide lockdown in 2020 as women were confined to their homes with their abusers. It’s been called a ‘secondary pandemic’, with statistics of more than 12 000 rape cases reported between October and December 2020. South Africa is one of the most violent societies in the world – if not the most violent.

So, has anything been done