ANCWL - The Mind Boggles

I recently did a study to find why and how the ANCWL got involved with the Oscar Pistorius drama. Why? What’s in it for them totally baffled me, because there were a lot of other ‘open and shut cases’ that would really make more sense for them to become involved? They spoke out again, after the Pistorius verdict, called the light sentence an embarrassment to justice. They did that even after their lawyer Dup de Bruyn warned them in court to keep a dignified silence.

I saw their recent reaction to Pistorius’ sentence of six years and it baffled me. “Is Reeva’s life only worth 6 years?” Why would you measure life at the length of a jail sentence? With other words, Rudi (Vleis) Visagie’s daughter’s life was then worthless – not a second jail time. She was also young lady, beautiful, a woman in the making. On the verge of her life, same as Reeva. The loved wife and precious unborn child of Siyabonga Mdunge, whom he also mistakenly shot and killed through a bathroom door, also worth absolutely nothing (according to the statement made by the ANCWL). It’s absolutely ridiculous if they start giving sentences on the worth of a person’s life.

Next was the mention about Pistorius’ wealth. I saw a few headlines of Oscar Pistorius’ wealth that bought him a light sentence. Nothing left of that though, maybe that’s why he is in prison now. He didn’t pay enough to keep him out of prison again. Funny enough, all the riches didn’t buy Pres Zuma any sentence yet. Mickey Schultz is rich, no sentence yet. Mark Batchelor is rich, no sentence yet. All three are rich, they are not in prison where they should be, according to fair justice in South Africa. You can’t measure a jail sentence to riches then too.

The first appearance the ANCWL made was in court on day three when Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane made a flamboyant entrance, accompanied by a retinue of ANC Women’s Leaguers. They appeared in court to show their support to the Steenkamp family and the Premier’s words: “Solidarity with victims has always been our responsibility” ensured that their presence was seen throughout the Pistorius drama and aftermath. They even went so far to cover all the travel and accommodation costs of Mrs Steenkamp and her friend, Jenny Strydom. Reason be (according to their lawyer, Mr Dup de Bruyn), for Mrs Steenkamp to get some closure after the violent death of her daughter. They really went out of their way to support the grieving family in their quest for women’s rights and their fight against abuse.

The ANCWL made sure that their voice was heard from onset, the got involved quickly. They urged the court not to grant Pistorius bail when he appeared in court for the death of Reeva Steenkamp:

Spokesperson for the league Troy Martens on Sunday said the magistrate should take into consideration claims in the media that there is a strong case of premeditated murder against him." It is with this in mind that the ANCWL urges the magistrate to heed the call of the prosecutors in this case and deny bail," said Martens. Pistorius was arrested on Thursday after his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp (29), was shot dead at his home in Pretoria. According to the City Press on Sunday: "A bloodied cricket bat is the central piece of evidence in the infolding murder investigation into Steenkamp's death. ... Police are investigating different scenarios involving the bat – one of which is that her boyfriend ... Oscar Pistorius, used it to viciously assault her.

" ... The police are also investigating two more possibilities: that Steenkamp may have used the bat in self-defence, or that Pistorius used it to break down the toilet door behind which Steenkamp was hiding from him." Then the most interesting part: "No special circumstances should be considered based on his celebrity status," said Martens.“

The recent incident where … Pistorius is alleged to have murdered his intimate partner Reeva Steenkamp brings this type of crime once again into the spotlight,” the African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) said in a statement.“ While this incident has shocked most South Africans and people around the world, it is not an isolated incident.”  Steenkamp’s spectacular death came in the wake of a particularly brutal gang rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl named Anene Booysen, who was also disemboweled during the attack.

Interesting how quickly politics interfered with the case and how far the SCA went to get what they wanted from the start – a verdict guilty of murder. With their little hints and lot of speculation in the media, the ANCWL got the attention they wanted. That ‘not-yet-investigated bat’ gave them the right to take the stage in this drama. The SCA grabbed onto the ‘assumed-factor’ and changed the course of the Pistorius trial. With the backing of the ANCWL and the politics, why not? Emily Boulter, a Belgium-based foreign affairs researcher and South African native, said “the Pistorius affair – and the enormous amount of media coverage it has generated – may finally force South African authorities to get serious about tackling domestic violence”. The SCA saw the possibility too and went in for the kill (excuse the pun).

So, the ANCWL is all about justice for women, especially abused women. What I found is actually that they choose their own playing field and game to suit themselves. Maybe they are trying very hard to make up for their ineptness and absolute silence on the Anene Booysen case, as well as thousands of other tragedies. My personal view is that the ANCWL is an organisation without the capability to assess situations and make meaningful statements on women rights. They beat their tune on drums not belonging to them, interfere where they don’t belong.

The same retinue of ANC Women’s Leaguers supported Jacob Zuma during his rape trial, shouting that he was innocent until proven guilty. Why the change of face now? Why did they change their attitude about that little factor when it involved someone else? Was it because Pistorius is white, famous and was rich? It can’t be because he was a poster boy, the same can be said of Jacob Zuma. He is supposed to be the poster boy of the country. They deliberately fed the Media hate and lies from the onset to take Pistorius down. Why? What was in it for them?

They have in the long past done some great things for women and for that we as women of the country are grateful .They did a great job supporting Reeva’s parents throughout the Oscar Pistorius trial, I mean they were involved from the onset of the trial. But wait, let us rewind back to Jacob Zuma’s rape case, what role was played by the ANCWL? Did they go into hiding? Does the zero tolerance to women abuse only apply to certain individuals? Do we allow our leaders to sexually abuse women? The blind following and support they give to individuals within their structures, is all really a little confusing. The woman that was allegedly raped by Zuma was said to have looked up to him as a father, as Zuma was apparently friends with her dad. Why did the ANCWL not wait for the law to take its cause before picking sides? They also didn’t wait for the law to do their job properly on the Pistorius case before they jumped in with both feet.  Did it ever come to mind that the support they were giving Zuma was totally against what the ANCWL stood for? Don’t you think that there was everything wrong with Zuma getting involved in such a despicable act on a woman who was supposed to be more like a daughter to him? In March 2016, the ANCWL stood again firm in their support when the Constitutional Court ordered Zuma that he must pay back the money for Nkandla. It was not that other women in South Africa received the same privileges the Zuma-women unfairly received. Where is the justification in that?

It was interesting to see that they went against their lawyer’s wishes and criticized Judge Thokozile Masipa’s verdict on the Pistorius case openly in the media again. No sign of the dignified silence requested by their own lawyer. We should think that the fact of Judge Masipa being a black woman herself would give them a little pause to think, but alas, no ways. Not even the fact that Judge Masipa is one of the best in the Justice System and has proven herself on the highest level of competency of women in South Africa, gave them a reason to pause. They made their disgust visible and loudly audible. It actually pains me to even refer to these unfavorable crusaders as advocates of women’s rights. I simply cannot relate to the ‘rights’ that they profess to be championing. With their hypocritical brand of self-serving and self-righteous indignation, together these women claim the right to lead public condemnation of a man they have branded globally as the face of gender violence. Branded him openly a women abuser, despite no substantiated evidence ever proven that he had ever intended to harm any woman, especially Reeva Steenkamp, the woman he was madly in love with.

They eagerly and openly criticized Judge Masipa who totally remained objective in her application of law, of fairness and justice and who also refrained from a fall of emotional and sensationalism of the facts presented to her by the Court. How I wish that the ANCWL could learn from her.

 It needs to be made clear to these misguided and/or corrupt activists that they do not speak for all women in this country. They certainly do not speak for me. Whilst I abhor gender violence, I will not support the vigilante mentality of this group of women who act as though they are above the law themselves. Since when did women’s rights become synonymous with revenge and hatred instead of equality and justice? Did you actually take a good look at their posters, while they were protesting outside the Pistorius Court? Exactly how was this burgeoning campaign of vicious discrimination allowed to flourish? I never saw one poster about the thousands of vicious rapes and murders of the wives and daughters in squatter camps or the white farmers.

 There have been so many rapes and abuses, in fact one every four minutes.  Why are they not at the head of the campaign everywhere? I looked out for a visible presence from them at the protests after the Anene Booysen murder and was actually disappointed to not read one word from them. They should have been at the helm of the protest. No worldwide media coverage of that particular gruesome case at all. Why didn’t they capture media attention to the Booysen-case too? Was Anene Booysen not worth a minute of their attention after the Steenkamp case appeared on the horizon? What did they do to help the Booysen family to also get closure? Did they go all the way to ensure justice for Anene? What happened to the “Solidarity with victims has always been our responsibility?” What did they do to campaign for endless other unnamed, unimportant, faceless victims of this country……

I believe they have better issues to discuss with the media than trying to be experts in a field they have no knowledge of, like justice and the law. I really salute Judge Thokozile Masipa for using and applying her absolute competent knowledge of the law, without any fear nor favor.

‘The interests of society demand that crimes of murder be punished severely. But the demands must be legitimate, the defense argued that the perception persists that Pistorius deliberately killed Steenkamp.’

‘This is not a case of gender violence, there is no indication at all that the deceased was in an abusive relationship.’

‘Society’s expectations for punishment cannot be legitimate if they are based on wrong perceptions”