Politicians can’t champion the fight against gender-based violence

I wish to borrow the words of one Charles de Gaulle, a French army officer and statesman, who once said: “I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to politicians.”

It is becoming more and more important for ordinary citizens who are not members of political parties to voice their opinions about the business of politics and the state of the nation. It becomes imperative to do so as our trust in politicians continues waning.

Our society is experiencing a massive crisis of gender-based violence (GBV). The rate at which women and children are being abused, raped, mutilated and murdered has reached extreme proportions.

A 2018 study by Africa Check and close verification of intimate femicide statistics shared by Deputy President David Mabuza at the Takuwani Riime (Let Us Stand Up Together) Men’s Summit found that “in South Africa, every four hours, a woman is killed. In cases where women are murdered by intimate partners, the statistics reveal that a murder occurs every eight hours.”

In this case, intimate femicide was defined as the murder of women by either a “current or ex-husband, boyfriend, same-sex partner or rejected would-be lover”.

During the week of the state of the nation address (Sona), two young men were killed by their partners. University of Fort Hare master’s student Yonela Boli was stabbed to death allegedly by his girlfriend, while Thandikhaya Nkohliso succumbed to injuries after his wife allegedly set him alight at their home in Port Alfred in the Eastern Cape.

The spousal abuse allegations and counter-allegations at the Sona debate on February 18, and the apparent excitement that ANC and EFF politicians displayed as these events unfolded, left many of us triggered, traumatised and disgusted, to say the least. More especially anyone, particularly women, who have experienced abuse. We are further being abused by politicians who do not seem to appreciate the sensitivity and gravity of GBV.

At the Sona, ANC MP Boy Mamabolo was heard shouting an allegation that EFF leader Julius Malema was abusing his wife. As emotions ran high – with EFF MPs insisting that former president FW de Klerk must leave the house – Mamabolo blurted out the serious allegation that they, as the National Assembly, “cannot be abused by Julius Malema the same way he abuses his wife, [Mantoa Matlala-Malema]”.

Both of the presiding officers did not rule Mamabolo out of order for making such an allegation, nor for a challenge to violence outside the National Assembly. When challenged to do so, National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise said she did not see who made the call and allegation. The matter was left at that.

I cannot help feeling that an opportunity was lost by the presiding officers to address the violence threats and to deal with the trivialisation of the gender abuse allegation.

I believe Modise should have immediately ruled Mamabolo out of order and perhaps proposed another platform in which such a sensitive matter could be dealt with, within the provisions and rules of Parliament. To have brushed the issue off, the speaker set a precedent and opened a can of worms.

At the Sona debate on Tuesday, Mamabolo came back more determined; one would even conclude that this must have been a collective strategy by the ANC MP caucus to raise the allegation and demand that Malema respond to the abuse allegations before he could continue reading his speech.

Mamabolo rose in the middle of Malema’s reply. The body language of ANC MPs, including many who are women, was telling when he rose to pose this question. They had big smiles and grins which suspiciously indicated that they were looking forward to their political opponent being called out as a wife abuser, and maybe being humiliated too. One woman got so excited that even her doek almost fell off as she jumped with excitement.

The ANC MPs taunted Malema, laughing and shouting on top of their voices, rising on points of order one after another, insisting that Malema respond.

Julius Malema. Picture: Gallo images

Presiding officer Amos Masondo battled to keep the proceedings in order from his own ANC MPs.

Malema then defended himself and retorted, and, in retaliation, responded by first denying that he abuses his wife, instead alleging that President Cyril Ramaphosa used to abuse his late ex-wife, Nomazizi Mtshotshisa.

He went on to say that former president Jacob Zuma could attest that he used to get complaints from the late Nomazizi that Ramaphosa abused her.

The ANC MPs immediately came to the defence of Ramaphosa, screaming and demanding that Malema withdraw the claim. Malema was ordered to leave the chamber when he refused to withdraw his remarks.

As I watched this situation, I had a nauseating feeling that the politicians actually cared more about their parties and their leaders, and that they would do and say anything to defend them without regard for whether the allegations were tested or not.

What is most disturbing about this situation is that none of the politicians seem to care about the women in question. None of them cares about Mantwa, an accountant and professional, whom, if they genuinely cared for, they would seek to find ways of reaching out to her and offer to help lay charges of abuse against her husband if they had knowledge of such abuse. Alternatively, they could offer support and allow her to exercise agency to get herself out of an abusive marriage.

Instead, people expect someone, a supposed abuser, to admit in public that they do abuse their wife. I found this very disingenuous and disrespectful to Mantwa.

The late Nomazizi had her name dragged in the mud and used for political point-scoring, knowing full well that she could not answer for herself. That was despicable.

Read: ‘Nomazizi must rest in peace’ – Malema accuses Ramaphosa of abusing his late ex-wife

This country has a minister of women, youth and people with disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane. What is her role when fellow MPs behave like this around issues that affect women? I wondered if she was in the National Assembly. If there is one person who would have been most qualified to raise a point of order and intervene decisively on this issue, if she understood her role, it would have been her. In September last year, a R1.6 billion emergency fund was set aside to fight GBV and an additional R500 million mentioned that October by Ramaphosa in the National Assembly.

The ministry of social development was said to have presented a plan to set up Thuthuzela Care Centres to support survivors of GBV, and R517 million was dedicated to this objective. However, the one aspect of the funding that remains vague and unclear is the R179 million which the president said was allocated for “education, awareness and prevention programmes to address issues such as patriarchy”.

It would be interesting to know who is running these projects – where and how are they run; what is their scope; and who are the projects targeted at?

By the look of things, our MPs are the ones desperately in need of education, awareness and prevention of GBV. At the next Sona, I wish Ramaphosa could inform the nation that Maite-Mashabane ensured that all of them were taken through gender awareness and sensitisation programmes. They must start with educating themselves and develop policies and rules on how to deal with such issues.

Otherwise, I do not see how the country will win the war against GBV with the kind of leadership displayed in Parliament over the past few days by those who are supposed to be championing the fight against GBV and leading by example.

Molatoli is director at Bamboo Seeds Communications

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