The five men accused of gang raping a 21-year-old Shallcross woman have been in and out of the Pinetown magistrate's court, each time evading a vigorous crowd of anti-rape protesters gathered outside.

The five men allegedly raped the young woman in a sugar cane plantation in Hillcrest on March 2 while her father was held at gunpoint nearby.
The father and daughter had been fishing at a dam when they were accosted by strangers.

The public show of sympathy for this particular rape victim, joined by a former Miss South Africa, has been consistent and vocal since the alleged gang rapists' first appearance in court. The public are clearly fed up with the intolerable crime levels and the state's perceived inability to tackle them and this particular rape may have been the last straw, not least in Hillcrest.

In a way, it is good to see the public mobilising around issues that are of shared concern in the affected communities: the residents of Hillcrest are sending the state a powerful message to administer the proper judicial process without any delay.

The state must indeed heed the urgent calls from Hillcrest or it might experience the dangerous downside of this sort of public mobilisation.
The worst prospect for any democratic society based on the rule of law is, of course, that of individuals taking law into their own hands.

Understandably, the protesters, many of whom know the rape victim personally, are emotional and their allegations are charged with anger.
But their concerns - such as the allegation that rapists are not getting the mandatory sentences they deserve and that they were out on parole a short while later, raping again - do merit an independent evaluation.

The IFP pledges, on behalf of all concerned citizens of KwaZulu Natal and South Africa, to seek answers to these pertinent questions through the parliamentary channels.

Dr Lionel Mtshali

Leader of the Official Opposition 

Contact: Dr Lionel Mtshali, 083 256 4902