Victim blaming needs to stop - Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramahosa has
described as appalling the amount of victim blaming that comes with
gender-based violence.
The first day of the presidential summit on gender-based violence and femicide got off to an emotional start on Thursday.
The summit was announced by Ramaphosa after the #Totalshutdownmarch, where women marched to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum to protest against oppression, gender inequality and gender-based violence.
President Ramaphosa and National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete attended the first day of the summit.
Rampahosa said society often places the responsibility on the victim to not be raped or assaulted, instead of placing the blame on the perpetrator.
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"We find similar or worse victim blaming in statements such as 'why does she stay with him if he beats her?' or 'why did she wear a mini skirt to the taxi rank?' or 'how drunk was she?”
Ramaphosa says this is a patriarchal approach to solving the issue, which makes it even harder for survivors to seek justice.
"Because all of a sudden before anything starts they are being blamed."
He added that women like Cheryl Zondi, who testified in the rape trial of pastor Timothy Omotoso, should be applauded for their bravery.
"Let us pledge here and now to begin to change the way we communicate about gender based violence and sexual assault.”