The journey started on 22 January 2009: while addressing 150 Cape Peninsula University of Technology students Julius Malema, ANC Youth League president, suggested that the woman who accused ANC president Jacob Zuma of rape had a “nice time” with him and said, “when a woman didn’t enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money.”

During March 2009: our partner, Sonke Gender Justice Network took action in response to ANC Youth League President Julius Malema statements by taking the matter to the Equality Court.  Sonke said that they believe that Malema’s statements reinforce rape myths and that they constitute hate speech, unfair discrimination and harrassment.

On 15 March 2010: “The Johannesburg Equality Court on Monday ruled that Julius Malema is guilty of hate speech, has no protection in terms of freedom of speech provisions, denigrated women in general, added to the rape problem in South Africa, and must apologise.” The Daily Maverick Malema was also ordered to pay R50 000 to People Opposing Women Abuse .

Follow the link and watch a snippet of the case here:  Sonke Gender Justice takes Julius Malema to the Equality Court .

***

Two weeks ago, on International Women’s Day (8 March), a woman was assualted by two men outside the gates of a huge corporate company in South Africa.  One guy approached her for sex, upon refusal he started to slap her around.  She lost her temper and slapped him back. As she tried to run away his mate joined him and together they smashed her head and face into a pulp with a brick.  The story did not make it to the evening news, nor will you read about it in the newspaper.  I know of the story only because I [sadly]  know both of the men.  It was just one more case of unreported gender violence in a country with hundreds of similar stories.  One of the guys were apprehended and spent two nights in jail…R500 bail money was enough to get him out!

The sad and shocking  part of this story is that nobody stood up for the girl, nobody bothered to help her.  She got into a taxi and “dissapeared” from the face of the earth!  Another statistic, another broken women!

Preventing gender based violence is one of our main goals here at South Africa Project – Time for Ubuntu. Together with organisations such as Sonke Gender Justice Network we believe that we can and will make a difference to the lives of women who are affected by gender based violence on a daily basis.

The ruling of 15 March 2010, by the Johannesburg Equality Court, is a definate step in the right direction!

Julius Malema in the meantime indicated that he will appeal against the ruling…!

The videos underneath show the buildup towards the court case and a small group of people celebrating the win afte the ruling. The first video also introduces the leaders of Sonke and gives you an idea of what they are working on.

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• SAfrican youth leader convicted of hate speech (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• ANC youth leader guilty of hate over Jacob Zuma rape comment (telegraph.co.uk)

Sex Tourism is when tourists, mostly men, engage in sex-trafficking by purposely traveling to known sex destinations (usually under-developed and poor nations), seeking anonymity in pornography or prostitution, or engaging in pederasty with young children and homosexuality with young and older adults. Many of these victims were either sold into the trade or kidnapped and forced into sex-slavery (this is called human-trafficking).

I would like to draw your attention to the following South African website, STOP.

According to STOP, “People are mainly trafficked and enslaved as sex workers but also as forced labourers, child brides and as soldiers. This is fact. Of the 600-800’000 people smuggled over international borders annually, 75% are used for sex trafficking.”

Keep your eyes and ears open, folks, and if you find out that someone has been kidnapped and is being used for human-trafficking, or hear rumours that someone is involved as a trafficker, or has been forced into sex-slavery or prostitution, please report it to the relevant authorities.

This following Animated Information Video was created by Firestorm Production for STOP Human Trafficking’s 2010 Human Traffic campaign. All performers are pupils of Jan van Riebeeck Primary School in Cape Town, South Africa. Please watch it!

Kids on Human Trafficking in SA

A regular T-Shirt will now sell for $12.99 plus $5 S/H. That’s a full $11 less than with our former provider.

We have many different styles including 100% cotton tees, vnecks, sleeveless, ringers, baseball and cap sleeve shirts for both men and women. Shirts are available with our Ubuntu Now and South Africa Project logos, as well as with our tag clouds.

The new online store also has full customization options–want a different shirt color? Want the logo in a different place? Design however you like.

This is the time to spread the word and let your friends know about the store. At these rates even we can afford to shop

We are proud to announce long-established household cleaning brand Carbona as our first corporate sponsor.

As part of their “Carbona Cares” program, Carbona has donated $10,000 to Ubuntu Now. The funds will be used to sponsor both a full-time community mobilizer and a clinic help desk worker in South Africa over a 10 month period. Both professionals are employed by Ubuntu Now’s local sister organizations, the Sonke Gender Justice Network and Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Program (TVEP).

Carbona’s name is closely tied to the campaign in a sincere effort to address some of the most pressing issues in South Africa, with the goal of launching a number of similar partner programs that provide value to both Carbona’s sponsors and, most importantly, Ubuntu Now’s objectives.

First, “Carbona Cares” will sponsor a Sonke Gender Justice Network staff member to promote and implement their One Man Can campaign. The sponsored community mobilizer will work to:

•    Educate men to stand against violence against women, both personally and within their own community

•    Increase men’s understanding and support of gender equality

•    Mobilize the public, private and non-government organization (NGO) sectors to encourage men’s greater involvement in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support activities.

In addition, the community mobilizer will conduct weekly workshops to further promote these goals.

Second, videos will also be filmed by a “Carbona Cares” sponsored help desk advisor at TVEP. They will conduct monthly interviews covering topics such as sexual assaults, HIV, access to justice and use of female condoms.  The help desk advisor will be talking to rape victims, program directors and clinic help desk advisors in rural South Africa.

Watch this blog and/or our Facebook fan page for updates directly from the community mobilizers!

The digital cameras that will be used for this project were generously provided by Eastman Kodak.

Apparently the group, based in Kommetjie, South Africa, use dried kelp horns to create vuvuzelas which are painted and branded.

I’m still not entirely convinced that vuvuzelas should be allowed at the World Cup matches, but if you insist on bringing one, now you have a cool “green” option. And heck, I bet you can make a nice bowl of soup out of it when your done too!

• South Africa has arguably the highest incidence of rape on the globe, with over 50,000 reported cases. Experts estimate that an addition 450,000 cases go unreported, bringing the total tally to over half a million
• Approximately one thousand three hundred women are raped any given day on South African soil. This means that a South African woman is raped every 17 seconds, child rape non-inclusive. Compare this to about 600 women per day, or one woman every two minutes in the United States, a country whose population is over six times that of South Africa’s
• The country has one of the world’s highest rates of HIV infection, with 12.7% of South Africans infected, compared with 0.4% in the United States
• 1.4 million South African children have been orphaned as a result of  HIV’s devastating impact
• One in four South African men admit to rape, 75% of whom claim to have carried out their first assault before age 20. In addition, half of those men admit to having raped more than once
• According the BBC, a South African woman has a higher chance of being raped than she does of learning how to read and write

Today, we are pleased to introduce a new member of the Ubuntu Now / South Africa Project network: the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Program [TVEP].

Like Sonke Gender Justice, TVEP focuses on raising awareness for social issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in South Africa. Whereas Sonke Gender Justice’s ‘One Man Can‘ initiative places its attention on male education and Rape Prevention, TVEP takes a look at the other side of the equation. Their admirable focus is on building a supportive, educational, and healing environment for the victims of rape– as well as those of HIV/AIDS, domestic violence, and child abuse. Furthermore, they have localized their efforts to the munincipality of Thohoyandou in South Africa’s Limpopo province.More on TVEP

TVEP stems from an 1997 initiative launched through the collaboration of local (Thohoyandou Community Policing Forum) and nationalized (South African Police Service [SAPS]) law enforcement. In order to abide the National Crime Prevention Strategy, these bodies commissioned the establishment of a Victim Empowerment Committee [VEC]. With funding from SAPS and the Department of Health, as well as the extra financial support garnered from local businesses, the VEC oversaw the establishment of the country’s first 24/7 One Stop Trauma Center. Since it’s inception in 2001, the One Stop Trauma has assisted over 40 rape and 80 domestic violence survivors each month.

In 2002, VEC was registered as the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Trust such that it became permissible for stakeholders to be co-opted as Trustees.

Today, TVEP’s mission is “to generate an attitude of zero tolerance towards all forms of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and AIDS stigmatization in the Thulamela Municipality”. The program employs some 30 staff and 46 local volunteer workers. International organizations like Voluntary Service Overseas and the US Peace Corps provide further resource volunteers who aid the expansion of the program’s in-house capacity.

We at Ubuntu Now feel that TVEPs foundation and aspirations align perfectly with our own. We are delighted to have forged this new partnership and look forward to supporting TVEP in its efforts.

It is with disgust and incredulity that I read daily about the heinous crime of “corrective rape” that is still taking place on the streets of South Africa, especially in the “African Townships” (basically poorer suburbs inhabited by Africans, such as Soweto, Gugulethu, Langa, Kayalitsha etc.) Corrective rape is “the rape of a lesbian by a man either to punish her or cure and correct her sexual orientation”.

Despite South Africa having a very liberal constitution, which forbids discrimination against LGBTs ( Lesbians, gays, Bisexuals and Transgendered persons), lesbian women are constantly being targeted in hate crimes, where the aim is for lesbian women, especially “butch” women to be beaten up and raped (often gang-raped) to “teach them what they are and what a woman should be like”,  sometimes by their own male friends.

Lesbians corrective rape in South Africa

According to Africans, the practice of homosexuality is not an African thing, but arrived with democracy and was brought to Africa by the West and the East! A total misconception of course, as homosexual behaviour can be traced back to MANY African tribes going back centuries:

Simon Nkoli , a great hero of the liberation struggle was convicted in the Delmas Treason Trial along with Nelson Mandela. Nkoli spent more than 20 years on Robben Island, and whilst in prison, he ‘came out’ as a Gay man to his fellow inmates and was accepted. After his release, he became the face of the struggle for lesbian and gay rights in Africa.

The legendary Rain Queen Modjadji, of the Balobedu people (who were the inspiration for F Ryder Haggard’s immortal novel “She”) never marries, but she bears children by her close relatives. She is cared for by her ‘wives’, which are sent from the many villages in Ga-Modjadji. Rumour has it that these “wives” did far more than provide her with her meals and afternoon tea.

One of the more prominent cases of “corrective-rape”, and one of the few to get any publicity was the case of Eudy Simelane, the 29-year-old who rose through the ranks to become captain of the Women’s National Football Team, Banyana Banyana, and was raped and murdered in April 2008 because of her sexual orientation. The top striker was set upon by a gang of thugs, gang-raped and stabbed 25 times. Her sexuality and supposedly butch looks were a death sentence in a country in which the sport is still considered a man’s game by many. The murder trial received mixed reactions from the public when only one of the accused was sentenced.

Ndumie Funda runs LulekiSizwe in her “cabin” in the township of Gugulethu near Cape Town. The project is named after her late fiancée, Nosizwe Nomsa Bizana, who was gang-raped by five men and subsequently succumbed to crypto meningitis, and Bizana’s friend Luleka Makiwane, who contracted HIV when she was raped and later died of AIDS.

“Corrective Rape” is a hate-crime of note, but the victims say that they do not have any confidence in the SA Police Service, as they are often mistreated or ignored when laying charges. They are also often assaulted by the very people who are supposed to uphold the law and protect them.

One in four South African men questioned in a survey by the country’s Medical Research Council, said they had raped someone, and nearly half of them admitted more than one attack. The survey also found that three out of four men who admitted rape had attacked for the first time during their teens.

The South African Government is paying lip-service to women and LGBTs, and is remiss in their duties of providing protection to the most vulnerable in society. Women do not feel safe in South Africa, and lesbian women even less so. It is time that the patriarchal government and leaders of the ruling party, the ANC, pull their fingers out and literally put their money where their mouths are and spend more on ensuring that women and children are safe! It would also benefit SA much more if we had a President who displayed good morals and did not use “culture” to cover for his philandering, as this sets a bad example to the African men he is supposed to be a role-model for!

I leave you with this question “Is it not time that South Africa had a Female President?”

I will far rather see the race of man extinct than that we should become less than beasts by making the noblest of God’s creation, woman, the object of our lust ~ Mohandas Gandhi~

The ongoing debate as to whether the sex trade in South Africa should be decriminalised or legalised has gained momentum as the 2010 Soccer World Cup approaches. In this article we take a look at various reasons why this should happen, and ask for your feedback.

The decriminalisation of sex work is recommended in South Africa’s HIV and AIDS and STI National Strategic Plan (2007-2011), and supported by both South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) and the Sex Workers Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), but the process of changing the law remains under the South African Law Reform Commission, which began reviewing the Sexual Offences Act seven years ago. An initial bill for parliamentary debate is not expected to be ready until March 2010, and any changes in legislation would not be passed before 2011. In the meantime, advocates of decriminalisation have called for a moratorium on arrests of sex workers during the World Cup.

Marlise Richter, a Health Researcher with SANAC, says the merits of decriminalisation are many; chief among them reproductive health for sex workers. Health activist Tim Bannet of the World AIDS Campaign shares Richter’s view. Bannet says HIV transmission will be significantly reduced if sex work is decriminalised. South Africa expects at least 450,000 visitors during the World Cup and, according to Bannet, sexual activity will increase exponentially. The prospect is chilling for a country that has the world’s highest HIV and AIDS rate. (According to studies by UNAIDS, South Africa accounts for 17 % of global infections).

A recent consultation held in Cape Town on HIV, sex work and the World Cup, co-sponsored by (SWEAT) and SANAC, brought together civil society, government, and other key players to discuss the potential impact of the World Cup on the local population, with a particular focus on developing strategies to address HIV risk in the context of sex work. Richter stated “There are actually almost no sex work programmes in place at the moment. If we look at healthcare-specific programmes [for sex workers], there’s very little, and this is what we should be doing in terms of the National Strategic Plan [on AIDS].” She also noted that legalising sex work would make it easier for sex workers to protect themselves and their clients from HIV. “In a context where sex work is legal and seen as legitimate work, where we have a labour law framework in place, it will mean that sex work will be safer, and that the tourists and clients who come will be safer.”

Among the draft recommendations that emerged from the two-day meeting were the need for human rights training, a government directive to end police harassment of sex workers, public health messages specific to sex work, and a moratorium on arrests of sex workers during the event. It was also stressed that safer sex campaigns should target not only sex workers, but also their clients, non-paying partners, and the general public.

The German “Fair Play” campaign, which ran during the 2006 World Cup, was cited as a good example because it increased condom distribution and started targeting sex workers and their clients with messages about safe sex more than a year before the kick-off.

According to the recommendations, the South African campaign should include the distribution of male and female condoms packaged with a soccer logo and lubricant. Coasters printed with the message: “Don’t leave this bar without picking up a condom”, could also be placed in bars and pubs where soccer will be screened.

Vivienne Lalu, an Advocacy Coordinator at SWEAT, has warned that the distribution of condoms is only part of the answer. “You can throw 20 million condoms at sex workers and do all the safer sex workshops, but if sex workers are continuously denied their human rights, you’re never going to be able to implement that information.”

Dianne Massawe of SWEAT says that the decriminalisation of sex work would go a long way to prevent abuse of sex workers by the police, who currently harass and arrest them, although charges are very seldom brought against them.

According to the South African Law Reform Commission (“SALRC”), which is in the process of producing a Discussion Paper on possible changes to the legislation dealing with adult sex work, following on from the Issue Paper produced in 2002, not all sex work is linked to organised crime, although there may sometimes be an overlap between the two, as it is the illegal status of sex work that makes it an fitting partner to organised crime.

Because sex work is illegal, this makes it easy for criminals to get involved in the “protection racket”, as sex workers cannot or will not go to the same police that arrest and harass them, for protection or assistance if they have been beaten up or raped. Protection is therefore sought in the form of pimps, boyfriends or other sex workers.

Decriminalising the sex work industry would preclude the need for protection outside of the police services. It would also enable sex workers to access services  which are taken for granted by persons able to prove an income, such as opening a bank account, securing accommodation and access to loans, all of which are currently not available to them, and therefore makes them more vulnerable to the criminal element. Decriminalisation would make them less reliant on services provided by persons involved in organised crime.

Viz a Vis criminalising clients of sex workers: sex workers rely on their instincts when contemplating accepting a client. If clients are criminalised they become even more nervous and therefore not prepared to spend time talking to the sex worker; she has to get into the car immediately. The discussion, during which sex workers evaluate their clients, has therefore been cut short and the possibility of going with a dangerous client is increased, as is the chance of abuse, rape, and murder.

Criminalising the client also influences the ability to assist victims of trafficking. Women and children that are kidnapped and trafficked are held against their will and are controlled to such an extent that they have little or no contact with the outside world -  their only hope is the client. A client who makes himself vulnerable to prosecution and is labelled a criminal is less likely to report that women or children are being held against their will. Criminalising the client, or the industry as a whole, is therefore not an option if the motive is to assist the women and men in the industry, to protect them from harm or to help them exit the industry.

In New Zealand, the Prostitution Law Review Committee was set up to report on the Prostitution Reform Act 2003, three to five years after the act came into force. A report based on work carried out by the Christchurch School of Medicine and Victoria University’s Crime and Justice Research Centre states that a comparison between the number of sex workers in Christchurch in 1999, before decriminalisation, and 2006 – after the act was passed – showed the total had stayed about the same. A Christchurch School of Medicine survey of sex workers found that more than 90 % felt they had legal rights under the act. More than 60 % felt they were more able to refuse to provide commercial sexual services to a particular client since the enactment of the law. Decriminalisation of sex for sale in New Zealand has fostered “access to safe workplaces, the right to organise at work and the possibility of having good working conditions,” the statement added. The New Zealand experience “has also allowed sex workers, particularly those in the street, to report violent crimes against them without the fear of being arrested or having their clients arrested.

Associate Justice Minister Lianne Dalziel said the report showed the act had had a positive effect on the health and safety of sex workers and had not led to an increase in numbers of sex workers as predicted by critics of the law reform.

So,  according to valuable sources, decriminalising sex work will keep the HIV AIDS figures down, minimise human trafficking, lessen the chances of sex worker rapes and abuse, and not increase the amount of sex workers! What are we waiting for South Africa?

Although the rates of HIV are dropping and the measures to prevent further spread are finding results, it is highly likely that the toll taken by the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the children of South Africa will be severe. It is estimated that deaths attributed to HIV/AIDS will leave one in three of the country’s children orphaned by 2015. This staggering figure is only one reason why World AIDS Day is not over; but for only one reason, it foreshadows extremely serious social, economic, and humanitarian problems. This is a concern that requires action on all planes from high levels of government to the most basic levels of community and neighborly care.

Can this be stopped, or at least slowed? Not unless changes happen soon, says Gail Eddy, a researcher at the Institute of Race Relations. The institute’s findings attribute the high number of orphans in coming years to be a result of slow dispersion of anti-retroviral drugs to patients during a six-year period beginning in 2000 and ending with the deaths of roughly 365,000 people — a large number of whom left children behind to be taken into the orphanage system.

While the reasons this happened are not entirely clear, and politics is largely cited as the issue for a delay in medical treatments, this issue cannot be resolved on blame and statistics alone. There will still be children to be raised, medicine to be distributed, dead to be buried and cures to be found. Encouraging discussion, spreading awareness, and showing concern when South Africa has the world’s attention are the ways that we can help foster action. For one third of a significant population’s children to be orphaned and vulnerable would be viewed as unacceptable to ignore if we met this possibility in the United States — but do we see it as unacceptable to ignore if it is another country’s children?

At Ubuntu Now, we absolutely see it as unacceptable. We know that you do, too. But we’d like you to show it by helping our cause. Start with a few clicks: join our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Keep going by telling your friends and inviting them to join the cause, too. By keeping informed and becoming aware, you will be helping spread the word so that anyone who can contribute support is able to find us.

World AIDS Day is not just one day on the calendar. It is every day; its impact is mourned well past a period of 24 hours. Let’s make the reality of World AIDS Day last through the World Cup — and far beyond.

Source: AP article, “S. Africa’s slow AIDS response sows orphan time bomb”