23 February 2020
As a country, we have such a beleaguered relationship with sexual violence and abuse. This week, jailed rap artist Pitch Black Afro appeared in court to listen to spine-chilling details of how his erstwhile lover and wife Catherine Modisane was killed.
The artist, whose real name is Thulani Ngcobo, is accused of using a blunt object forcefully on Modisane’s head, killing her on Near Year’s Eve in 2018. On Page 9 of this newspaper, we report about teachers in Limpopo not only having inappropriate sexual relations with vulnerable pupils, but also how some of these children have been impregnated and teachers are paying maintenance for these. These teachers betrayed the children. Again, elsewhere in the paper, we report about how ANC MP Boy Mamabolo has a history of violence, a scourge he pretended to abhor. Elsewhere in this edition, the Vaal University of Technology, with many management challenges, also harbours “leaders”, and we use the word very loosely, who demanded sex from their female colleagues either for promotion or appointment to jobs.
Statistically, it is estimated that about 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime. Of the reported rapes, only 14% are convicted while one in nine incidents are reported to police. And we are not yet talking about other forms of violence. The examples are many and the details varied.
Under the circumstances, we would say it is abhorrent of politicians to use the issue of gender-based violence as a political football. The logical assumption would be that we expected more from them. The truth is we have come to a sad place as a country, where we can’t put such a sick joke past politicians; where we don’t expect them to exhibit the highest of excellence.
It is unfortunate.
Our pride … Hamba kahle, Mshengu
It seemed a sendoff befitting of a king. For indeed Joseph Shabalala, the leader and founder of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, occupied pride of place in the musical global firmament.
South Africa ought correctly to be proud to have been a home to such a giant. Elsewhere on our pages, Shabalala is described as the Mandela of music, humanising the South African experience to the globe. To say that he was talented is to state the obvious. To say that he’s a leader par excellence is to make too trite a point, a point made way too many times not just in his home country, but by many who accorded his charges honours around the globe.
Often we decry artists celebrated elsewhere but their home country. In Shabalala, the musical maestro and his group enjoyed respect and adulation across the board. We agree with President Cyril Ramaphosa when he says that in their music, he found cultural affirmation. Their music transcended not just tribal silos, it united people across borders.
We also find it fitting that the Black Mambazo academy will, long after he’s gone, help teach the youngsters the isicathamiya genre. When others try to emulate Americans in music and drama – this is our gift to the world. Siyabonga, Mshengu. Hamba kahle!
