The Inkatha Freedom Party Women’s Brigade has welcomed the life sentence handed down by the High Court in Limpopo to serial rapist Lucan Malokolle Phalane who was convicted of 25 counts of rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances and housebreaking.
“As the IFPWB we are against any form of women abuse and violation of their rights. No rapist should get away lightly. We call for tougher punishment or life imprisonment for rapists, so as to halt the continuous assault on the girl-child and women. Government should also immensely intensify efforts in the fight against increasing cases of rape in communities, in order to save the lives and dignity of young girls facing daily attack by rapists in the country.
Such unfortunate and unholy activities contribute immensely in destroying the lives of many innocent women and children in the country. This social ill calls for tougher punishment or life imprisonment to serves as a lesson to others. One worrisome observation about these perpetrators, is that often, they are relatives of the victims, acquaintances, close family friends, as well as neighbours. In not too few instances, the perpetrators are very highly respected people in society, who capitalize on the weakness or ignorance of these victims to satisfy their sexual desires,” said IFP Women’s Brigade National Chairperson, Mrs Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa.
“But I want to ask men why our sisters, daughters and mothers are unable to live peaceful lives in the presence of men? How is it that our grandmothers can’t stay alone at home and be safe? If our women are fearful of men, then men have no right to call themselves men. Some men with pervert brains blame women for such acts. It is no fault of the woman. The fault lies in the perverted minds of some men. Society has to fight against such perverted individuals. Exploitation of women and daughters is a blot on the society, which it must fight. Society must get rid of this blot. We must assume a collective responsibility to get rid of this blot.
Protection of women’s and girls’ must be a 365 day project.
The IFPWB believes that we need to promote a human-rights based approach to dealing with this issue. There needs to be a change in attitudes and behaviour from the community towards the deeply entrenched problem of gender-based violence,” concluded Mrs Madlopha-Mthethwa.
Issued by the IFP Women’s Brigade
For further information, please contact:
Mrs Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa
IFPWB National Chairperson
079 114 3015/ 071 884 3844