Rape Cultures in South Africa

Introduction

South Africa faces a serious and profound crisis to do with rape and violence against women. Prior to 1994, South Africa held a set of laws called apartheid that actively oppressed people based on race. The country continues to deal with the legacy of these racial laws, most conspicuously with the majority of the country’s wealth being concentrated in the hands of white citizens who are in the minority, while many black South Africans experience extreme poverty. South Africa also experiences high rate of violent crime and South Africa’s 1996 Constitution is one of the most progressive and inclusive in the world, designed to ‘heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights’ (Preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 Act 108 1996) .

Perceptions of Rape

A serious challenge to changing South Africa's rape culture is people's perceptions of rape. Generally, women and men perceive rape as something only possible with a stranger. Sexual coercion and “force” in intimate partnerships is often considered the norm, though rarely defined as rape. Instead the designation of rape seems to be understood as something that is done between strangers.

Media

The media plays a key role in defining the perception of the rape crisis in South Africa, and definitions of rape. The press in South Africa is still dominated by white men, The types of rape generally reported in South African media are:

• those that are especially violent, such as those ending in murder
• rape of very young children
• rape of a white/"respectable" woman by a black man
• rape in combination with any other crime, such as a robbery
• the rape victim is male

The perception among many people is that rape is something that happens often in the country, but is solely done by black/poor/delinquent/criminal men who are strangers to the victim. Rape is seen as not something that happens within friend groups or respectable/educated circles. However, studies have shown that rape is common across all social, economic, and racial groups in South Africa.

HIV

South Africa is one of the countries with the highest rates of HIV/AIDs in world, and it is believed that gender inequality and gender violence is fuelling its spread. Fear of violence and unequal power relations makes negotiating sexual safety and condom use exceptionally difficult for women. HIV disproportionately affects young women, especially young women in South Africa with women aged 15-24 being four times as likely to be infected as men in the same age category.

Rape and Race

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki publicly criticized anti-rape campaigns for being racist, to him, portraying black African men as hypersexualized and violent. Complaints that talking about rape is racist, or the rape crisis in the country is solely because of apartheid laws and migrant labor issues, seems to stem from the fallacy that rape is perpetuated only by black or non-white men, a fallacy enforced by media. In reality, studies frequently show rape to be perpetuated within communities of all colors and social boundaries.

“Corrective” Rape and Homophobia

South Africa was the first country in the world to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in its constitution. However, so called “corrective rape,” rape of a queer woman in order to “correct” her sexual orientation, is a common occurrence. For example, ten cases of corrective rape are said to happen each week in the city of Cape Town alone. These crimes are often extremely violent as well.

A note on language

In addition, it is important to note the lack of diversity in discussion about gender and sexuality in South Africa. Trans, genderqueer, intersex, asexual people face a lack of representation, and discussions of queerness are often reduced to gay and lesbian only. Discussions of rape and gender violence speak almost exclusively about cis-gendered women only.

Rape and the Legal System

In 1996, South Africa adopted a very progressive and inclusive constitution, guaranteeing equal rights across genders, sexual orientations, and race. It also outlaws discrimination based on those grounds. However, patriarchal and homophobic societal beliefs are deeply entrenched and affect the way that laws are perceived, applied, enforced, and prosecuted in South Africa. Previous to the 1993 Prevention of Family Violence Act, judges were allowed to apply a ‘cautionary rule’ to rape victims, questioning the credibility of a rape victim.

Marital Rape

For many years, marital rape, that is a husband raping a wife, was completely legal, as consent was considered to be given with the marriage. However, in 1993, the Prevention of Family Violence Act was passed, prohibiting marital rape, and making it a criminal offense. However, many studies have found marital rape to be a wide spread problem in South Africa with many women feeling that they are obligated to provide sex for their husbands in exchange for food and shelter, or being unaware that marital rape is a criminal offence.

The Zuma Trial

In 2006, South Africa’s current president and leader of the African National Congress, Jacob Zuma stood trial for the rape of an HIV-positive woman and family friend. The outcome of the trial, the reactions of Zuma’s supporters, and the portrayal of the rape survivor in the media, all help to illustrate the rape culture of South Africa. Furthermore, that the rape survivor was known by Zuma to be HIV positive, and the act was done without a condom, indicated a shocking lack of understanding of how the virus is spread. Zuma reported that he showered after the sexual encounter and that he believed this would stop HIV transmission. The outcome of the trial was that the sexual encounter was deemed to have been consensual. The rape victim was threatened with violence during the trial on a number of counts, including Zuma supports outside the courtroom, burning effigy of her and holding signs some of which suggested she be killed. The defense argued that Zuma was a traditional Zulu man, and the judge, a white South African man, ruled that because she did not react the way that he expected a rape victim to act, namely that she did not call for help, nor leave his house right away afterwards, the sexual encounter must have been consensual. Critics have argued South Africa’s society features multiple deeply entrenched patriarchal cultures, which coincided between the trial’s judge and the defense’s arguments of "traditional" Zulu patriarchy.

Rape and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), held in the late 1990s, had the aim to redress gross human rights abuses under apartheid. Several months after the TRC began, after pressure from women’s support groups and the media, it was announced that a Women’s Hearing would be added to the agenda. However, many feel that despite this, the TRC failed to address the suffering of women because it did not integrate gender into its main mandate. As one researcher states “The struggle against apartheid prioritised matters of race over all others.” In many ways, violence against women and rape seems to have only come to the forefront with the advent of democracy in South Africa.

Prison Rape

Throughout the world, South Africa has some of the highest rates of rape. Yet not enough coverage and attention has been put on rape culture reoccurring in prison settings. Basic human rights are not covered when prison rape occurs, as it is a p . Prison rape also contributes to a variety of health problems, which can lead to the contraction of HIV and AIDS. Rapes in prisons are slowly becoming an “expected” part of the sentence and the cultures of rape in prisons are rapidly growing to become a norm.

The Bill of Rights from the South African Constitution states:

'Everyone who is detained, including every sentenced prisoner, has the right to conditions of detention that are consistent with human dignity, including at least exercise and the provision, at state expense, of adequate accommodation, nutrition, reading material and medical treatment.' (Constitution, 2006)

South Africa has become more aware of this issue and has been starting to take preventative measures to keep this from happening. Jali Commission was hired by the South African government to examine sexual violence and generate strategies to put an end to it.

Some findings from the Jali Commission were that there were existing gangs in the prison system, which causes males to exert and prove their male dominance over other cellmates. When males are raped in their prison cell they describe that as “branding”, which means they have been claimed for another male. Few victims will report when they are raped in fear of something even worse happening to them.

After males leave prison they generally do not have a job waiting for them when they get back, and due to being exposed to so many criminal activities in prison, they go out and do what they’ve been taught in prison – how to rape. It is this constant cycle that goes around through rape culture and an immediate need to put a stop to it.

No More Rape Culture

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