“So I think that, countries in the Commonwealth need to put stronger or more efforts on understanding that, for as long as we leave the issues that relate to sexual violence, there is no real hope for the development of Africa.
Speaker of the South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal Legislature, Hon. Boyce Nontembeko, has advised African Parliamentarians to legislate strong laws for successful prosecution of rape cases in the court of law and convict suspects.
This is even as she noted that current legislations in many African countries make it practically impossible to establish a case of rape or secure justice for the victims.
Nontembeko, while addressing newsmen in Abuja on Friday, said the scourge of rape and other gender based violence would be tamed, only with strong legislations.
Illustrating with the Hate Crimes Bill of the South African Parliament, she said that strong legislations against rape could truly deter perpetrators.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Woman Parliamentarian had delivered a paper titled ‘The Challenge of Implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) During the Pandemic’, at the ongoing 51st Conference of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), Africa region.
Recalling snippets from her paper, she lamented that, the COVID-19 pandemic had serious effect on the implementation of the SDGs.
“We must unite and enact laws that will work for our own people, especially, on the issue of gender.
“Rape is amongst those effects of the COVID-19 that might be implicit because it affects gender. When I spoke about Gender Based Violence, we are also including rape.
“That is why in South Africa, we have put forth the Hate Crimes Bill. The Bill does not only speak about rape, it also speaks about murder.
“So I think that, countries in the Commonwealth need to put stronger or more efforts on understanding that, for as long as we leave the issues that relate to sexual violence, there is no real hope for the development of Africa
“The harmony of Africa and the peace in Africa will not be achieved by silencing guns only, for as long as women and children are subjugated by their stronger allies which are men, there will be no real peace.
“So, speaking about rape, it must be a priority of Commonwealth to end Gender Based Violence and rape, and we have to also, within our own criminal justice laws, be explicit in how we determine the sanctions and strong punishment for rape.
“This should also include the domestic violence that is perpetrated against women and children in own country and other members of the Commonwealth,” Nontembeko added.
She also harped on mental health of Africans, adding that the drift of attention to COVID-19 had distracted everyone from mental health, reproductive health, malaria and other communicable diseases.
KwaZulu Natal, one of the nine provinces in the South African Parliament, has the largest representatives as lawmakers from the country in the 2021 conference of CPA holding in Nigeria. (NAN)
