Minister of Basic Education is back in the public scrutiny after making a bizzar rape statement. Addressing pupils at Pretoria, Minister Angie Motshekga said that “educated men won’t rape” pupils respond by saying “no they do”, the Minister then says “oh I’m dissapointed” pupils respond with laughter. She went on to ask the pupils “but they don’t do the other things right?” pupils respond saying “they do”.
The Minister goes on to say that her theory was that the more educated you are then you become sophisticated and look after your family and community.
South Africa has a serious pandemic of Gender Based Violence where women are cruelly victimized everyday; yet a Minister of Basic Education decided to casually and jokingly make this bizzare rape statement, much to the shock of the public.
The irony to this bizzar statement is that the Minister says the “more you are educated the more sophisticated you are”. How many male teachers have raped students? The reckless statement by the Minister is unfortuate and irresponsible. Most pupils addressed by the Minister may have been affected or are victims of rape! The casual bizzar rape statement is not something that can be expected from an educated “sophisticated” Education Minister. The Department had enjoyed a dignified start to this year up until now.
The Department issued out a statement noting the reaction to bizzar rape comment by the Minister. The problem with that statement is that it blames the media for taking the Minister’s comment out of context. Regardless of what the Minister was trying to address, the lack of awarenes with regards to the pain women live through is rather sad.
Unfortunately the Minister’s statement has validated rape in work places including schools. It discounts efforts which have been in place to solve the GBV issue by stating that only through education the rape issue can be solved. What level of education would a man need in order to stop raping?
So now a rapist can have “lack of education” as excise. How much more harm to the Department can this Minister bring before actions are taken against her?
The laughter from pupils in response to the statement reveals the problem deeply rooted in our communities which is not taking these matters serious. The war against GBV is far from over.
If we lived in a just society, Minister Motshekga should be facing serious concequences.