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Siyayinqoba Beat It! 2006 Episode 13 –

Gender Violence - Noxolo

Gender violence is a massive problem in South Africa. In 2003, there were almost 53 000 rapes reported, but even this is far lower than the actual number of rapes that took place. Many rape survivors are afraid to report these crimes. They fear they will be victimised by perpetrators, and that police and court officials may embarrass and humiliate them. Rape is one of the main reasons that there are so many more women infected with HIV compared to men, which makes it difficult to arrest them. Siyayinqoba met up with an extremely brave young woman, Noxolo Vumazonke, who was raped by her father.

Shalom Ncala: Molweni, siyanamkela ku-Siyayinqoba Beat It! support group, igama lam ngu-Shalom Ncala. Ku-Beat It! support group, sonke siphila kahle negciwane le-HIV. Sanibonani nonke. Njalo ngeviki sihlangana ukuze sixoxe ngezinkinga ezithinta ukuphila kwethu Ukusukela ekudleni okunomsoco ukuya ekwaziseni esibathandayo. U-Siyayinqoba huhlelo lwakho lokuphila kangcono ne-HIV. Uma uphila negciwane le-HIV noma unesithandwa, ilunga lomndeni nomaumngani onegciwane le-HIV, u-Siyayinqoba ungowakho. Namhlanje sikhuluma ngokuhlukunyezwa ngobulili. Ukuze sizizakale kulengxoxo samkela u-Andile Carelse ongumculi odumile nowahlukunyezwa ngokocantsi aphinde abe yisishoshovu sokulwela amalungelo abantu abahlukunyezwe ngobulili. Sawubona Andile, Siyabonga ukuthi ubekhona namhlanje kule show. Ukuhlukunyezwa kwabantu besifazane Eningizimu Afrikakuyinkinga enkulu kakhulu. Ngo-2003 cishe izehlakalo eziwu-53000 zokwedlengula zabikwa kodwa leli nani lingaphantsi kakhulu kwezahlakalo zangempela. Iningi labantu abadlwengulwa liyesaba ukubika ngalezehlakalo besaba ukuthi bazohlukunyezwa yilabo abasebadlwengulile nokuthi amapoyisa neziphatha mandla zasenkantolo zizobahlukumeza noba zibenze intlekisa. {IsiZulu} [Hello and welcome to the Siyayinqoba Beat It! Support Group. My name is Shalom Ncala. In the Beat It! Support Group we are all living with HIV. Each week, we get together to discuss issues that affect our lives with HIV, from eating healthy food to disclosing to our loved ones. Siyayinqoba is your guide to living better with HIV. If you are living with HIV or you have a partner, a family member or a friend who is HIV positive, Siyayinqoba is for you. Today we are talking about gender violence and HIV. To help us discuss these issues, I would like to welcome Andile Carelse, a well known musician, a rape survivor and a gender violence activist. Hello Andile, how are you? Thank you for joining us today. Gender violence is a massive problem in South Africa. In 2003, there were almost 53 000 rapes reported, but even this is far lower than the actual number of rapes that took place. Many rape survivors are afraid to report these crimes. They fear they will be victimised by perpetrators, and that police and court officials may embarrass and humiliate them. All gender violence must be stopped. This will reduce the number of women being infected with HIV. Rape is one of the main reasons that there are so many more women infected with HIV compared to men, which makes it difficult to arrest them. If more men are arrested, prosecuted and jailed for rape, this will send a message that they cannot get away with it. Siyayinqoba met up with an extremely brave young woman, Noxolo Vumazonke, who was raped by her father.]

Cape Town, Western Cape – “He asked me not to tell anyone”

Noxolo Vumazonke: Elaxesha ndandineminyaka eyi-8, ndathi umama wam esasebenza ngaphakathi endlini kusekuseni ngoMgqibelo, umama wam wandicela uba mandiyoalala e-back notata wam. So ndathi xa ndifika pha, ndakhulula izihlangu ndalala. Ndathi ulala kwam ndava utata wam efaka isandla, endibamba ngaphambili, wabe endikhulula i-panty. Ndathi xa ndithi ndiyamjonga ngentandabuzo wathi kum kuyo yonke lento ayenzayo zendingayithethi nakubani na. ke ndathi kusenjalo wabe ethatha izinto ezi ebendidlwengulela kuzo like amashiti neetawuli wayozihlamba ngokukhawuleza ukuze kungabonakali into ibisenzeka, umama wam angaboni nto erongo ibisenzeka. So ke ngoku wandithatha wandisa e-bathroom wayondihlamba umphambili lona uba kungabonakali nto. {isiXhosa} [I was eight years old at the time. It was a Saturday morning and my mother was working inside the house. She asked me to go sleep in the back room with my father. I got there, took my shoes off and lay down. After lying down I felt my father move his hand and touch me on my private parts. He took off my underwear. I looked at him and he said to me that I shouldn’t tell anyone about what he was about to do. After that he took off all the bedding he raped me on, like sheets and towels and he quickly went to wash them so that my mother wouldn’t notice anything wrong had happened. He took me to the bathroom and washed my vagina.]

Advocate Penelope Magona (National Prosecuting Authority): This is a rape matter where a minor was a victim. So it comes to my desk because I’m an advocate of the High Court, so where there is a rape involving a minor, it must come to the High Court for sentencing. Yayingeyo event inye, yayiyi rape eyenzeka in a certain period, usukela ngo 1998 uyotsho ku-2002. {isiXhosa} [It was not something that happened once. It happened over a certain period of time, from 1998 up until 2002.]

Noxolo Vumazonke: So ndathi ke ekuqhubekeni kwalonto ndakhulelwa. Umama wam emane endibuza ukuba Noxolo kuqhubeka ntoni, kutheni ngoku watyeba tyeba, wabamkhulu. Ndithi ke mna ‘hayi mama akhonto’. Abuze umama wam ‘ugqibele nini exesheni?’ ndithi ke mna ‘hayi mama ndigqibele last month. So i-cousin yam kengoku iye yandithatha xa safika e-clinic kwathiwa phaya abayenzi i-pregnancy test so masiye esibhedlele. Wajampa ke utata wam, waxhuma wathi ‘hayi ndizamsa ngokwam uNoxolo kuze ndizokwazi uqonda ndibuze nemibuzo.’ Kuba utata wam ehlamba sizohamba, umama wam waphinda wandibuza ‘Noxolo kuqhubeka ntoni, kutheni kunje?’ wabe endibuza zange ndikwazi uba mandizibambe. Ndaveske ndakhala ndabe sendichaza yonke into. Wathi utata wam ephuma e-bathroom wabe umama wam ewe phantsi. Hayike sahamba saya e-police station, xa safika e-police station kwasayinwa izinto, wabuzwa imibuzo, waphendula. Emva koko kwathiwa uyabanjwa ngoba endirey’pile kwaye umzali wam ndimxelele ngalonto leyo. Kwaye kengoku uyabanjwa, so uzawuba sevaleleweni until kuze kuxoxwe. {isiXhosa} [So after all of this, I fell pregnant. My mother was concerned about my sudden weight gain and I’d told her that there’s something wrong. My mother would ask me things like when last I menstruated, I’d lie and say last month. My cousin took me to the clinic for a pregnancy test but they said they don’t do pregnancy tests and they sent us to the hospital. My father jumped and said he would take me to the hospital so that he could ask some questions. While he was taking a bath, my mother asked me again what was happening. She asked and put pressure on me until I couldn’t keep the truth from her anymore. I started crying and I told her everything. By the time my father finished bathing, my mother had fainted with shock. We went to the police station. When we got to the police station they signed some papers, he was questioned and after that he was arrested for raping me. The police told my father that I had told my mother about it. He was arrested and remained in custody until the trial.]

Advocate Penelope Magona: For cases like this, we need severe sentences and because of the rising nature of this kind of offences, we need to have sentences that have an impact and that send a message to the community and any future offenders to see what do we do with these kind of perpetrators.

Noxolo Vumazonke: Iqhubekile lento isenzeka kwathi kengoku uzogwetywa iminyaka eyi-18. bekungemnandanga kum because bendilindele bathi life because yonke lento ikhoste u-life wam, uthathe ubuntwana bam nobuntombi bam, andiseyo ntombi ngoku, ndingumama because kaloku ndizele ndimgumntwana ndisena 12 to 13 year. So ngoku ubumoshile ubuntombi bam. {isiXhosa} [He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. I wasn’t happy because I was expecting a life sentence. This thing cost me my whole life. He robbed me of my childhood and my youth. I’m not a young person now, I am a mother because I gave birth I was still a child, I was 12 years old. He ruined my youth.]

Noxolo Vumazonke (speaking to classmates): Ok girls namhlanje ndenza i-follow up about into endandithethe ngayo nani. As ba ndiyintombazana nani ningamantombazana ndathetha nani uba i-rape ikhona yenzekile kum and nifila njani ngento endansithethe ngayo nani. Nicinga ntoni kengoku nina, yeyiphi into eniyifumanileyo kwi-story sam? {isiXhosa} [Today we are doing a follow up on something that we spoke about before. Since we are all girls and I’ve made you aware of the reality of rape and the fact that it happened to me, can you tell me how you feel about me sharing it with you? I’d like to know what have you learnt from my story?]

Friend 1: Mna ndifunde into yokuba kufuneka umntu abe-open athethe, angahlali nento ekuye emtyayo. {IsiXhosa} [I learnt that a person must talk. They must not keep things to themselves.]

Noxolo Vumazonke: Ekuqaleni bendimcaphukela kakhulu utata wam because ubumoshile ubuntwana bam, wabumosha ubuntombi bam. Ngoku besendingenamdla wakhe kwaye ndinendzondo kakhulu kye kodwa ke ndazixelela uba ‘ewe undimoshile but ke igqithile ngoku lento. And so ngoku mandiqhubeke nobomi bam. {IsiXhosa} [At first, I really hated my father because he ruined my childhood and youth. I lost all the love I had for him, I was filled with hatred towards him. But then I told myself that yes, he ruined my life but it’s over now. I must move on with my life.]

Support group

Shalom Ncala: ‘I am actually disgusted by the insert’ esiqeda ukuyibona, angazi ukuthi Sisonke sihleli la sifila njani ngayo because uma ungumntwana omncane u-expecta i-protection from ubaba wakho. ‘I for one was brought up by’ ubaba wami, umama wam wayengahlali ekhaya ‘most of the time,’ wayengumuntu ophumayo ehanjiswa yindaba yesonto. Ubaba wam uyi-hero yam because ukwazile ukhulisa intombazana efana nam as i-last born yakhe, ebengithanda olunye uthando engakaze ngalubona. ‘So much so I tend to look for him’ kwama-relationships ami. Ngizibuza ukuthi umntwana ofana nalo, uboni ini, ufuna ini emva kwalokhu sekumenzakalele, ebunzimeni obungaka. Futhi ‘I’m amazed’ nanes’bindi nokuqina anakho kuye ngaphathi azokwazi ukuthi ame akwazi noxoxela abangani bakhe ukuthi ‘this is what happened to me, you should be careful not to let it happen to other people. I’m thinking’ uba i-moral fibre iyawa ‘in society.’ {IsiZulu} [I am actually disgusted by the insert we’ve just seen. I don’t know how everybody else feels about it, because when you are young, you expect protection from your father. I was brought up by my father, my mother was always away from home, busy with church matters. My father is my hero because as his last born, he raised me to be a woman. He showed me unconditional love. So much so that I tend to look for him in my relationships. I wonder what this child looks for in life after experiencing something like this. I’m amazed by the courage she had to stand up and tell her friends that this is what happened to me, you should be careful not to let it happen to other people. This is breaking down the moral fibre of our society.]

Andile Carelse: Unfortunately this is where we are as a country in South Africa, that story is not an isolated story, my experience is the same as hers, its just that in my case I didn’t fall pregnant but also it was my father. And with the question that you ask about from here on, what happens with her and her relationships with men, unfortunately that gets broken down because she was very young so your first experience of what a man is supposed to be gets determined by this kind of act.

Busisiwe Maqungo: And kula-case ngeng’ba esitsho u-Andile uba ayonto intsha ngale ka-Noxolo and ayiphelelanga ku-Noxolo. Abanye abantwana zange zithiwe na-find out zisahleli phayana. And I think yena ubhetele because at least umama wakhe umncedisile uba makade abe utata wakhe uyohlala ngapha kwezitshixo because abanye oomama abayenzi lonto leyo. Abantwana abaninzi bayazi-reporta i-cases, oomama babo it’s either bangakholelwa okanye athi umama ‘shut up’. {IsiXhosa} [As Andile pointed out earlier, this didn’t start with Noxolo and it won’t end with her. Often other children’s cases are not even looked into. She was fortunate because her mother helped to get her father arrested. Not all mothers do that. Many children report these cases to their mothers but they either don’t believe them or tell them to keep quiet.]

Andile Carelse: But I think ngeng’ba kuso manje, one of our biggest solutions njeng’ba ukhuluma ngabantwana abancane, is that umntwana uma sekakwazi ukukhuluma sekakwazi ukuthi ‘ngifuna isinkwa, ngifuna ini’. {IsiZulu} [Now, one of our biggest solutions regarding children is that when they’re old enough to communicate, then that is an opportunity whether they are three or four years old, to explain to them that this is your private space and if somebody touches you, you scream or you tell me. So from that young age, you start to communication.]

Vuyani Jacobs: Families must be able to expose it, when I say that: “Not in my name”, it’s the same of saying that if any member of my family can do it, one way or another, should it be proven or not, I want that to go to court.

Andile Carelse: What are you guys actually saying on the subject? Is it if it hasn’t come to my house, then it’s nothing that I need to worry myself about or is going to be a case of: “Well, you know what, as men we need to take this fight ahead, we need to be in the forefront of saying, not all men in South Africa are rapists” because right now the whole world sees South African men as dangerous because South Africa has one of the most highest rape statistics in the world.

Vuyani Jacobs: Sometimes you get punch-drunk and you have no idea how to say or to cry, to smile or just to be there, sometimes that’s how I feel.

Shalom Ncala: Sizophinda sikhulume ngokuhlukunyezwa ngobulili ne-HIV emva kwekhefu, siyabuya. {IsiZulu} [We talk more about gender violence and HIV after the break. We’ll be right back.]

Shalom Ncala: Iqembu le-Siyayinqoba likhulume no-Sixolile owadlwengulwa osichazisela ukuthi wasizakala kanjani kwa-Rape Crisis Centre nokuthi bamsiza kanjani ngokumlungiselela icala alivulela labo bamdlwengula. {isiXhosa} [The Siyayinqoba team met Sixolile, a rape survivor who explains how she was helped by the Rape Crisis Centre and how they help prepare survivors for the court case.]

Khayelitsha, Western Cape – “He shot me and bashed my head against the toilet seat”

Sixolile Mbalo: Xa ndenyuka endleleni ndidibane nababhuti bayi-2, omnye ndandifunda naye yena u-Sinethemba omnye lo ingubhuti wakhe. Bandibize, abe seyesithi ubhuti wakhe mandimkhaphe, ndingafuni ndikhale, athi uba mandingakhali mandithule. Uba andimkhaphi uzonditshuzisa kwiinto eziyi-4. wathi uzondidubula edolweni watsho endivezela i-gun okanye andihlabe okanye ndimkhaphe ndijike endleleni okanye uzondibhetha nges’tena. Ndathi mna nditshuza ukumkhapha then ndijike endleleni. Wabe kengoku endirey’pa kengoku, kwabe sekumnyama sekusebusuku. Wathi uba mandigoduke ndabe ndisaphethe la-plastic ineza-takkie. Ndaphuma wandilandela, xa singasesikolweni sam, wathi uba mandingene pha eyadini yes’kolo, andavuma. Is’bham wabe esiraphishele ngalaphu, ndangena, xa sifika kwii-toilets zamantombazana wandidubula phaya wabe sekendifaka ngaphakathi ngentloko, wandishiya phayana. {IsiXhosa} [I met two guys on my way home. The one goes to the same school as me and other one was his older brother. They called me. The older brother asked me to go with him, I said no and I cried. He asked me not to cry. He gave me four choices; he would either shoot me in the knee, he showed me his gun; stab me; hit me with a brick or I had to accompany him. So I chose to accompany him and he raped me. At the time it was already dark and he told me to go home. I still had the plastic bag with the takkies in my hand. I got out and he followed me. When we got close to the school, he ordered me to go inside the school premises. I refused but he showed me the gun he had wrapped in a cloth so I went inside the school yard and he took me to the ladies’ toilets. He shot me and bashed my head against the toilet seat and left me there.]

Joyce Doni (Rape Crisis): I-support group e-Observatory, sikhulu kangangoko, kulapho bendi experience khona ubu-good boba xa kengoku sebedibene supporting one another but kengoku xa sisiva izitory zabanye nabanye, ababone nendlela abenza ngayo. And Okwesibini ababone ii-achievements zabo as much as bezi-rape survivors. Kukho into ebendikhe ndayi mention nge-plastic, xa udlwengulwe ezompahla zakho kufuneka uzithathe uzifake kwi-paper bag not kwi-plastic. Kutheni ndisithi ungafaki kwi-plastic, ndithe specific i-plastic ungayisebenzisi? {isiXhosa} [The Observatory Rape Crisis has a support group; it’s a very large group. This is where I see the importance of supporting each other, when they listen to each other and hear about their achievements as rape survivors. Earlier I mentioned something about plastic bags. I said when you go home you should put your clothes in a paper bag rather in a plastic bag. Why shouldn’t you use a plastic bag?]

Survivor 1: Ndicing’ba i-plastic izobilela ezampahla so zibemanzi. {isiXhosa} [A plastic bag will moisten the clothes and the evidence might rub off.]

Joyce Doni: Kutheni kubalulekile into yoba uba udlwengulwe kufuneka ungahlambi, funeka uqale e-police station okanye e-Simelela? {IsiXhosa} [Why is it important not to wash after you’ve been raped, before you go to the police station or Simelela Rape Centre, why?]

Survivor 2: Kufuneka ugqirha abone uba urey’tshwe nyani na. {IsiXhosa} [To give the doctor proof that you’ve really been raped.]

Joyce Doni: Apha ke yeyona nto u-Rape Crisis anayo, sinento esithi apha yi-court preparation apho umntu athi through i-counselling kubakho i-session. Sinabantu abantu be-advocacy, sithi zii-advocates apha kwa-Rape Crisis, ababini, apha emveni kwexesha umntu esiya uyabizwa abene session nabo. Kuba kaloku abantu abaninzi i-cases bazi lose seziyile e-court kuba akakho sure uba uzokwenza ntoni naand also ne-shock yobona lomntu ebekudlwengule, nguyelo ngoku sekufuneka ndi-communicate naye. {IsiXhosa} [Rape Crisis has something called ‘court preparation’. A person goes through a counselling session. We have two advocates with whom the person has sessions in order to be prepared for court. Many people lose their cases because they are not sure what will happen in court, and also there is the shock of seeing the rapist.]

Sixolile Mbalo: From es’kolweni ekholegini ndadibana ne-student supporter sapha then sona sandithumela apha ku-Rape Crisis. Baye bandi-counselisha because ndandingekho right so bandinceda. Ndandimane ndisiza for i-counselling apha. Mna ndifuna ubaxelela uba umntu xa enalengxaki , makayithethe, abanye abayi-reporti emapoliseni, umntu uyahlala nayo lonto leyo, which is yinto erongo, I think mna umntu makayithethe. {IsiXhosa} [At college I met the student supporter who sent me to Rape Crisis. They counselled me because I was traumatised, they helped me a lot. I’d advise people with the same problem to talk about it. Some don’t even report it to the police, which is wrong. People should talk about it.]

Support group

Shalom Ncala: Sithanda ukwamkela u-Penny Magona, umtshutshisi wasenkantolo enkulu ozosikhumbuza ukuthi yini esingayenza ukuze sibenobufakazi obanele obungaqinisa icala lokudlwengula. Molo sis’Penny, ninjani? Siyakwamukela kule-show namhlanje. {IsiZulu} [We’d like to welcome Penny Magona, a High Court prosecutor who will remind us of the things that make a strong rape case. Hello Penny, how are you?]

Lihle Dlamini: Into eyokuqala nje ebuhlungu ukuthi yi-definition ye-rape, what about umuntu orey’pwe at the back? What about umuntu owenziwe ukuthi enze i-oral sex? What about umuntu orey’shwe nge-condom? Can we not change leya mithetho leyana ekhona because ekugcineni if umuntu ekurey’phe nge-condom, wa washa wonke amashiti like ubaba ka-Noxolo wenza, ekugcineni izoba his word against mine. And then yena uzothi ‘angizange ngimrey’phe, vele bekuyi-girlfriend yam’. {IsiZulu} [The first thing that needs to be changed is the definition of rape. What about someone who’s raped in the anus? What about someone who’s forced to perform oral sex? What about rape with a condom? Can we not change that law? If you are raped and he used a condom and washed the sheets like Noxolo’s father did, in the end it will be his word against mine. He’ll deny it and say: “I didn’t rape her, she’s my girlfriend.”

Penny Magona (National Prosecuting Authority): I won’t be speaking as a legislature but I know ne, commission is something that has been discussed and it should be inclusive on i-male sexual intercourse without intention on i-male as well. I know there’s been a lot of activists who were also fighting for that but it should be inclusive, not only female because the definition of rape is unlawful intentional sex with female person without her consent only. So everybody has been fighting that is should be inclusive, that is something which I know is on the paper, it is being discussed but you know these things take long. Everybody comes with proposals before it gets to parliament and is actually passed as a bill or as a law but is something that is currently being looked in to.

Andile Carelse: Taking an example from Noxolo’s case, it’s going to take this long, I mean is there no other alternative? Because if I don’t go, obviously this guy the perpetrator continues and I sit there with the guilt that I didn’t tell on him and so he’s continuing. But at the same time, the second revictimisation that is going to happen throughout this procedure, is there something else that I can do?

Penny Magona: Xa u-reporta i-case {isiXhosa} [When you report a case], where do you want it to go? You want this person to be punished under our system, under the law of this country. Unfortunately this is the law, this is how it must be done, the Criminal Procedure Act says so, the child must come and testify. The law of evidence needs to be evidence based in front of the court, convince the court to convict. So one needs to have the perpetrator of a particular crime to be punished by our system, unfortunately you have to go through the same process.

Lihle Dlamini: We need to go out there, we go to communities ba-mobilise on HIV and AIDS issues but we also need them to know that if you are raped, this is the evidence that you must bring. Like bekukhulunywa kwi-insert ukuthi ungafaki kwi-plastic, uyifake kwi-paper bag. Why is that important, fanele sizazi izinto ezinje ngalezo. {IsiZulu} [Like, they said in the insert: “Don’t put your clothes in a plastic bag but in a paper bag.” Why is that important? We have to know these things.

Andile Carelse: Because it’s such a very private crime, if you will, that chances of you succeeding in court lie also heavily on what you do when you are getting raped. So if you can, you were talking about if you don’t have any kind of evidence, you didn’t scratch him or whatever. If you can, do that, get whatever evidence you can so that you’re sure because if you don’t have that and then he used a condom and changed his clothes, how do you prove? So understand that while you are there fighting for your life, it sounds crazy to be saying this stuff but then it’s necessary.

Shalom Ncala: Sizophinda sikhulume nge-HIV nokuhlukunyezwa ngobulili emva kwekhefu, unganyakazi. {IsiZulu} [We talk more about gender violence and HIV after the break. We’ll be right back.]

Fanie de Villiers: The victim in this whole situation that needs to go through this long process, yes I understand the support must be there and the support structure maybe are there, family members and friends, whatever but is it worth it, are our sentences heavy enough? Is the message sent out to the public, to the men out there, is it strong enough?

Penny Magona: In cases of rape and murders, what we call serious cases, we are guided as well again by law, how they should be sentenced. There are certain circumstances that the court, the discretion lies with the judicial officer; what he os she thinks is suitable to look at for him to depart from giving someone a life imprisonment. Now in this ka-Noxolo, although the state asked for life, put everything in front of the court the reasons why it should be life imprisonment, the court looked at it and said: “Well, due to certain circumstances, this accused does not deserve life but only 18 years imprisonment.”

Thami Mthembu: Having observed everything they were talking about today, I think what really comes through to me is that one of the things that make it so important to report a rape and to go through that process, as much as it pays for the perpetrator to be behind bars and to pay for his sins but I think reporting it is that first step of being able to speak out, to start to heal.

Shalom Ncala: Sithanda ukubonga izivakashi zethu zanamhlanje, u-Andile Carelse no-Penny Magona. Namhlanje sifunda ukuthi ukuhlukunyezwa ngokubulili kungagwetshelwa futhi nabadlwenguli bangavalelwa ejele. Akulula ukugweba abadlwenguli ngoba kufanele kulethwe ubufakazi bokuthi wadlwengulwa ngempela. Kobubili ubufakazi obubonakalayo nokuthi awuzange uvume ukuya ocantsini. Kumele sizilungiselele ukuhlolwa esibhedlele lapho kuzotholakala khona ubufakazi nee-DNA ukuze sibenobufakazi obuphuma kumdlwenguli. Ngaphezu kwakho konke kumele kubenobufakazi bokuthi akuvunyelwananga ngocantsi. Uma singagwebisa abadlwenguli lokho kuzoodlulisa umyalezo wokuthi ngekhe baphunyuke, lokhu kuzokwenza izimpilo zabes’fazane zibelula kewhlise nezinga lokutheleka nge-HIV. Siyabonga ukuthi nibe nathi namhlanje. Sithemba ukuthi nilujabulele uhlelo futhi niyawuzwa nomoya we-Siyayinqoba, Sisonke singayinqoba. Yiba nathi futhi ngeviki elizayo ku-Siyayinqoba Beat It! Support group. Kuze kube yilesosikhathi Hlala unempilo, Hlala unombono omuhle. Bye bye. {IsiZulu} [I’d like to thank our guests, Andile Carelse and Penny Magona. Today we’ve learnt that rape and gender violence perpetrators can be prosecuted and sent to jail. It’s never easy to prosecute rapists because evidence has to be presented to prove that rape occurred. Physical evidence and proof of non-consensual sex is needed. We have to be prepared for a medical examination where evidence can be collected and DNA testing done to prove the evidence comes from the rapist. Above all, we have to prove that there was no consent to sex. If we can prosecute and convict more rapists, this will send the message that rapists will not get away with it. This will make women’s lives safer and bring down the rate of new HIV infections. Thanks for being with us today. Please keep the letters rolling in. We value your comments and questions. We hope that you enjoyed the show and are feeling the Siyayinqoba spirit, that together we can Beat It! Join us again next week in the Siyayinqoba Beat It! Support Group. Until then stay healthy, stay positive.

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