Sexual violence rife at South African borders

If people are not aware of what is happening, how can we stop what is happening ? Please read this article- Philip Stoneman

Written by Becky Palmstrom | 05 August 10

Republished with the permission of Genderlinks opinion service : http://www.genderlinks.org.za

Musina, 5 August. Unlike schools and offices in South Africa, the criminal gangs along the border between the World Cup hosts and Zimbabwe did not take a break because of a sports tournament.

As thousands of foreign fans flocked to the football stadiums and hundreds of journalists arrived to cover the first African World Cup, along the border another influx of foreigners received a different sort of welcome. They were not met with bright green and yellow flags and vuvuzelas, instead, these foreigners faced armed attacks and a pattern of sexual violence employed systematically to traumatise already vulnerable people.

"All I was thinking about was the work that I will do in South Africa," says 16-year old Grace Moyo*, as she sits rocking the two-year-old child she cares for. "I was just saying God help me so that I will find work."

It was the day before the World Cup opening ceremony when Moyo began a journey she had taken once before, crossing, without papers, the parched bush-land, three barbed wire fences and the Limpopo River.

Just as her small group reached South African territory she saw four armed men waiting. They forced the women to remove their clothes before raping each one of them in turn.

"When they were trying to rape me - I fought against them and so they put a gun to the baby's head and so I let them rape me," continues Moyo. "I think that if I didn't have a child they would have killed me."

Known as the magumaguma, from a word meaning "to grab", the men took all of Moyo's clothing when they left, a final indignity to punish her resistance. Tied up on the side of the road, the women were left in the midday sun. None of them filed a case with the police.

The civil society organisations working along the border say her story is typical: If there are men crossing, they are forced to have sex with the others in the group. If there are no Zimbabwean men, as in Moyo's case, the magumaguma, both men and women, do the raping. Condoms are never used.

"It is a crisis," says Mikael Lepaih, head of mission for Medicins San Frontieres (MSF). "We are seeing a pattern," he says. "It leads to questions as to if the gangs are using HIV as a weapon." Since January of this year 143 rape survivors have sought medical treatment at MSF clinics in Musina, some as young as 14 years old.

"These numbers are only those that register with us," says Tambu Matambo, the MSF Musina deputy field coordinator. "We think the numbers are much higher."

Matambo had recently worked with Moyo and put me in touch with her for this story.

Forced rape of family members is now so common that Zimbabweans deny being related: "If the gangs realize you are related they force you to have sex with each other," says Matambo.

While special courts set up for the World Cup offered rapid justice for fans visiting the country, the police seldom register sexual violations along the border, and nobody has been prosecuted for the attacks. The South African government spent 53.5 billion rand, or six percent of the country's budget, on stadiums and transport infrastructure. Along the border Zimbabweans were met only with humiliation.

Despite ending deportations last year, South Africa's treatment of Zimbabweans is partly to blame for their vulnerability, says MSF. In a country where domestic workers earn on average R75 a month, most Zimbabweans cannot afford the R1100 needed to buy a passport, leaving people with little choice but to cross the border without documents, and dependent on the very criminals who rob and rape them. Once they cross many apply for asylum status.

"Most of the people say political problems as such are not the issue, it is economic problems." says Thabe Mogoboya from Lawyers for Human Rights, a legal organisation that works in Musina. Coming to South Africa, "is a recipe for a better life. But if this is the case, your claim for asylum is unfounded according to the refugee act," he says.

The asylum process allows people to stay for 30 days while their case is decided, but 99% of cases are turned down. Even with the option to appeal it is a system that fails to recognise the reality of migration between the two countries, says Lepaih from MSF.

Worse still, the systematic nature of the sexual violence, regardless of gender, may suggest the collaboration, or at least tacit consent, of border officials and police officers, says Thabe Mogoboya, particularly on the Zimbabwean side. "It needs both governments to say let's do something about this problem," he says. "More so when there are allegations that the Zimbabwean soldiers are involved."

For a country anxious about foreigners, turning a blind eye to systematic abuse along its border is a way of dissuading further migration.

About 300 Zimbabweans, like Moyo, file for asylum at the Department of Home Affairs in Musina every day. Hundreds more cross without papers and are never registered.

South Africa is being congratulated on its success, but now that the world's largest sporting tournament is over, it is time to apply the same urgency and efficiency used to host the World Cup to its problems along the border.

*Grace Moyo is a pseudonym.

Becky Palmstrom is a Rotary World Peace Fellow at UC Berkeley. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service.

The importance of effective victim support

The Risk of Secondary Victimisation

Recently I was told a story about a victim support worker at a police station who had been called in to assist a survivor of rape. As she guided the rape victim into one of the rooms for victim support she looked at the victim and said “ Undress and show me where he raped you” What is more shocking is that there are many more horror stories of people in positions of authority and power, such as victim support workers, EMS personnel, police and security officers treating victim of crime in such a way that may not be as degrading as this story, but is insensitive to the extreme. A form of secondary victimisation…

Secondary victimisation has been defined as being “exposure to further distress from the people or institutions from which one is supposed to be receiving assistance” (SAITS 2004) This could be described as insensitive treatment by service providers, doubt of the event, mistrust, judgement or in the words of a senior police inspector for Scotland Yard “ simply raising an eyebrow in disbelief” which could be construed as non validation of the experience or a form of victimisation.

It has become evident that the challenges facing communities regarding the effective management of survivors of trauma incidents and sexual violence are great. One of these challenges is the effective forensic examination of rape survivors and subsequent trauma management, a problem even at national level.

On a national level, the high levels of violent crime, especially social crimes such as rape, domestic violence and child abuse combined with low economic growth, high levels of poverty and widespread unemployment can lead to serious psychosocial consequences: (SAITS 2008)

Brian Mckendrick states in People and violence in South Africa, 1990 that “Simply by being a part of the (South African) society, the lives of all are touched- and tarnished- by violence: Perpetrating it, legally or illegally; being a victim of it, directly or indirectly and being a witness to it, first-hand or via the media.”

Violence effects change in our society, and our community and in the way we live life. Violence has a far reaching effect on the members of our society, whether one is the perpetrator, the victim or even if one reads or hears about violence. Violence changes our understanding of life. The trust we place in society and humankind is broken down, and we become numbed to the violence to the violence we see daily and come to accept violence as normal.

And so an unmistakable reality in South Africa is that crime and violence impacts in such a way that violence becomes for some the only method used to solve problems, for others an accepted way of life and for many a constant intrusion that disallows normal living, commonly known as traumatic stress.

Unfortunately, many South Africans are unable to access the psychosocial trauma support services for a number of reasons: Poverty, language and cultural barriers, Inadequate resources or services in the area, insufficient financial resources available to survivors, transport problems, and even if these barriers are overcome there are additional barriers faced at police stations where secondary victimization is more the norm rather than the exception.

According to the White paper on safety and security, there is a substantial need to “Improve the quality of service delivery to victims of crime” and that “victimization constitutes a violation of human rights. Empowerment of victims of crime therefore restores human rights and is an important element of police service delivery.” “International experience has shown that effective management of both direct and indirect victims and witnesses of crime is a vital part of successful police investigations. This is, in itself, integral to community policing which seeks to build relationships between the police and local communities.

It is here that victims and witnesses play an important role in assisting the police in the collection of evidence and through participating in the process of prosecution.

This means that improved victim support and empowerment can assist investigations and serve as a means of altering public perceptions of police effectiveness. Thus, the link between victim support and successful investigations is critical to improving service delivery and therefore to enhancing public confidence in the police.” (Department of Safety and Security, 1998)

So, quite simply put: “Improved victim support will improve our fight against crime!”

Our plan of action then should be to ensure that we mobilise members of the community, train them effectively in the field of victim support, empowerment and trauma support and then manage these important resources in such a way that we provide victims of crime an opportunity to come forward and receive care.

I was told this morning of VEP facilitators who had been going door to door in their villages (Phokeng, North West) and telling people about their trauma centre. What services they offer, how they can assist and what trauma is. The response to one such VEP volunteer was a young 18 year old male who had been struggling with anger issues, to recognise how his abusive father  had affected him as a child. This young man, is now willing to seek help, counselling and even return to school: a possible criminal will now become a productive member of society.

Victim support is vitally important, let us ensure then that we invest heavily in this field.

Philip Stoneman

South Africa : Suffering from cumulative trauma…an interesting concept?

Visitors from around the world have started to converge on the most southern tip of Africa.The land of rugby, braaivleis and boerewors,( please excuse my cliché's) the Springbok,the Protea and Bafana Bafana…the Boys!

In the time period leading up to the FIFA Soccer World Cup, much has been said, debated and discussed about our high levels of crime. Government departments would defend our capability to manage crime, and so they should, yet some citizens would cry out that all is not well in the rainbow nation, that “crime does exist in South Africa, that the levels of crime are high and the intensity of violence real.”The visitors that are setting foot on our land have not been exposed to such a violence. Will they be the catalyst that allows us to see through their eyes, what truly is taking place?

The response of those in power is to acknowledge that crime is taking place but that the incidents of crime are becoming more manageable. However, we seem to be missing the point; is it not possible, that South Africans have reached their “allopathic load” in terms of exposure to trauma as a nation?

Allopathic load,  is defined as the disturbance between load and physical capacity as affected by cumulative trauma. In other words, continuous and cumulative exposure to trauma over time within our communities and society, is pushing the capacity for self management of “societal traumatic stress” to its breaking point.

In other words, have we not just had enough? and that the signs ( or cracks) that are showing in our rainbow nation indicative of the stress we as a nation are under, are due to our exposure to violence and crime in our media and communities?

It is time that our leaders sit up and take note!

If we as a nation do not undergo therapy, reconciliation and healing, we may implode. Perhaps an over exaggeration,but our levels of domestic violence are increasing, road rage is the norm, our politicians do not find assertive methods of managing conflict and instead turn to violent rhetoric and threats of violence.

Fortunately, the load has been offset by the good willed Madiba Magic permeating levels of society. but is this enough to truly enable a nation to heal itself from a serious case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

It is time that we think about a solution to our violent society, before its too late.

Perhaps you would Change A Life and help find that solution?

Philip Stoneman

Community awareness with Mama Rose

A very important part of the “Life Changing” work we do at iThemba is regular awareness campaigns and educational talks at schools on the east rand. A challenging job, but one that Rosina Maja (also known as Mama Rose) takes in her stride. Here are a few photo’s of Mama Rose in action….

under her spell…. a recent anti rape meeting…

All women love to be pampered…

All the little children….

and finally, important partners in the fight against crime:our police.

Capacity building in Phokeng

Rustenburg / Phokeng : Host city for Soccer World CupFootball frenzy…or should I say “Soccer World Cup” frenzy has taken hold of Rustenburg and Phokeng. Flags are up all over the place, the malls,side streets,cars, taxi ranks and even the local workforce got into the spirit!

However the real reason for being in Phokeng, was not to partake in the “soccer frivolities” but to partner with the South African Institute of Traumatic Stress to provide training to victim empowerment facilitators in the Phokeng region. Such capacity development and training in areas such as these are vital not only for the recipient organization, but also for the facilitators who leave refreshed and encouraged by the passion and commitment of people within their communities to make a difference, or as we @ iThemba like to put it…to “Change a Life”

 

In the next few blogs I will be sharing some of those lessons I learnt with my readers….regards, Phil.