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South African minister Motshekga under criticism for rape comment

WION
South AfricaWritten By: Kalden OngmuUpdated: Feb 16, 2021, 09:24 PM IST
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Photograph:(Twitter)

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South Africa’s Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has come under heavy criticism after the controversial rape comment she made on Monday at a school

South Africa’s Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has come under heavy criticism after the controversial rape comment she made on Monday at a school. 

While addressing students at a school in Pretoria, Minister said, “this government has prioritized education because we know that it’s only through education that we can deal with some of our challenges that are here because educated man won’t rape aankeri (isn’t it?).” 

Ministers comment drew strong criticism on social media and some political parties even called on her to retract her comment and publicly apologise. 

However, the Minister in her statement said that it was taken out of context. 

“Rape is indeed about power, hence the department had programmes to educate the boy child to appreciate the importance of his to deal with power relations between men and women from a young age,” she said. 

This comment and controversy come at a time when South Africa is battling to fight the scourge of gender-based violence and sexual assault, which the president of the country also dubs as “the second pandemic.”

The country’s opposition party, Democratic Alliance said the following - “Minister Motshekga’s rape comments yesterday was clearly irresponsible, uncalled for and insensitive... We think she should educate herself about the complexity of the issue.”

Baxolile Nodada, DA shadow minister of basic education said people like her of high calibre such as the minister must be able to read the temperament, educate themselves and not make misleading statements like educated men do not rape because that is not true. 

It is estimated that 40 per cent of women in South Africa will be raped at some point, while only 8.6 per cent of perpetrators are convicted. Africa Check says this number is unproven as accurate rape statistics are hard to produce due to a lack of reporting.