The scourge of GBV #JusticeForNosicelo by Lindokuhle Mponco

                                              The Scourge of GBV #JusticeForNosicelo

                                                                    by

                                                        Lindokuhle Mponco

The scourge of GBV in South Africa continues to rip communities apart. The latest incident that occurred keeps proving that until we deal with patriarchy and toxic masculinity, we will not have a GBV free society. Of course it is very important to note that patriarchy and toxic masculinity are not necessarily a capitalist feature even though we have come to recognise that capitalism has intensified and strengthened it. Anything that promotes and justifies exploitation has been used to advance the growth of capitalism including customary law.

The brutal murder of our sister Nosicelo Mtebeni, who was a final year LLB student has not only served as a reminder but keeps on reminding us that the scourge of gender based violence still exists and will not go away without proper action. As students from different class backgrounds we united against the murder of the late UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana after hearing about the horrific death she suffered at the hands of another man who felt entitled to her affection. Students from across the country joined hands to speak up and stand up against another GBV murder which continues to illustrate the toxic character of patriarchy. We cannot disassociate this behaviour from patriarchy, which then gives birth to toxic masculinity because such are intertwined like a shoe and its laces. The GBV scourge is older than the dawn of capitalism in South Africa, however, we have to deal with African Nationalists who romanticise the era before capitalism as if it was paradise.

The teachings that continue to exist in the psyche of men in South Africa date back to the pre-colonial era where men were taught to be the protectors of women because they are the 'weaker' sex. However, the contradiction is that traditional African society in South Africa referred to a woman as 'Imbokodo'. 'Imbokodo' is a hard and immovable rock which was meant to denote that women are an immovable force and are therefore hard to break. This figure of speech might have been used during the Apartheid era to describe the strength and resilience of women, however, it has become a double edged sword in the hands of patriarchs who view women as a literal mbokodo. The saying has not only dehumanised women overtime, but has also turned them into punching bags. This saying is directly linked to when women get married and are told to 'nyamezela' or 'bekezela' because marriage is a tough journey where happiness comes and goes. It is a reality that these words are used to encourage women to stay in abusive relationships even when the abused woman wants to leave this death trap. We must dialectically analyse the role culture plays in perpetuating GBV and start to assess whether our respective cultures are progressive when it comes to combating GBV. 

It is a reality that South Africa is a rape capital in the world, with 66 196 reported incidents and a rate of 132.40 incidents per 100 000 people according to the World Population Review. This is the highest in the world! The World Population Review also ranked South Africa 10th in the overall murder rates at 32.9 murders per 100 000 people, while Femicide statistics sit at 9.5 per 100 000 people according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with South Africa being the leader of the pack. This comes at the back of the high rate of unreported cases and incidents, meaning that there are more women that suffer in silence, and more women that get killed by their so called loved ones. The statistics might not show everything but they give us a glimpse of the scourge we are dealing with. It is unfortunate that 70% of the people that commit these dastardly acts are people that are known to the victims, this ultimately meaning that there is a 70% chance of a women being killed or raped, or even going through both at the hands of someone they know. 

As a man, I bow my head in shame and sorrow because I know that most of these cases are perpetrated by men. The situation is so bad that even men fear men! Men has become the prime enemy of humanity particularly because of the notion that they are superior and have the inherent right to oppress and dehumanise whoever they can dehumanise. Men are at the centre of almost every GBV case particularly because they believe they have the divine right to do as they will in this world. These so-called rights stem from religious practices and cultural practices that affirm the undue rights of men to dictate the lives of women. It is alleged that this non-entity of a human brutally murdered Nosicelo because he suspected that she was cheating. That excuse is a lame excuse which has unfortunately led to many a deaths. It stems from the toxic masculine idea that a woman cannot cheat on a man, while a man cheating on a woman is understandable. It is these cultural beliefs that lead us to this dark path of men killing women based on unfounded suspicions. Even if the allegation is true it still doesn't justify killing a human.

The patriarchy which continues to grip contemporary South Africa is a breeding ground for toxic masculinity which manifests itself in GBV incidents such as this tragic incident which brought an abrupt end to a promising life. We must go beyond social media slogans and hashtags and start moving towards the space of rolling mass action. The GBV epidemic is symptom of a parasitic State which feeds the capitalist machine through the blood of innocent women, whose potential is dimmed by toxic tendencies of men who have become willing weapons in the hands of the racist, capitalist and patriarchal machine that continues to destroy the fabric of our society.