Youth need protection while 'cleaning up the country'
Cheryl Zondi, state witness in the Timothy Omotoso rape trial, has launched her own non-profit organisation - The Cheryl Zondi
Foundation.
Zondi addressed the media in Braamfontein on Tuesday, where she confirmed she has asked the Public Protector to look into state witness protection for rape victims.
"[I am] asking that the witness protection programme be thoroughly investigated and changed because in my own experience, I have realised it does not work for victims, necessarily, especially young victims.
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"When a young person helps clean up the country by getting rapists off the streets, it is the responsibility of the state to protect that person and protect that person's rights.
"It is neither just nor constitutional to ask a youth to drop out of school, move somewhere far away and forget their identity all to make cleaning up the country more convenient for the state," Zondi said.
Zondi's organisation's tagline is "Turning pain into Purpose."
"There is and there has to be a purpose for your pain. A purpose that is far bigger than you. A purpose that requires you to pick up the pieces and be something, move on with your life more empowered because the thing that was meant to break you is now making you," she added.
Zondi urges all victims not to blame themselves for incidents that they had no control over and to own their stories, as it is now a part of their lives they "need to accept without allowing to define you."
Zondi caught the country's attention when she endured gruelling cross-examination for detailing her history of abuse.
Omotoso is on trial with two other women, Zukiswa Sitho and Lusanda Sulani - on charges that include human trafficking, racketeering and rape.
The trial has been provisionally postponed until 10 December.