Eastern Cape: 'Women leave money on their windowsills as protection fee from being raped'

Africa Melane is joined by Lesley Anne Foster, Director of the Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre in the Eastern Cape, to discuss the state of gender-based violence in the province and nationwide.

Listen below.

The Eastern Cape has the highest incidence of gender-based violence in South Africa.

This week, a brutal case involving the rape of five women and the murder of Nogcinile Mtirara, the matriarch of the local royal family, has again thrust GBV in the Eastern Cape into the spotlight.

The women, students aged 20 to 25, were reportedly raped and robbed at gunpoint in Mqhekezweni, just outside Mthatha.

Both incidents have sparked yet another outcry over the unchecked violence against women and children in the country.

"We're seeing quite a spate of these murders... We're very, very concerned about this."

- Lesley Anne Foster, Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre

"The woman chief [who was murdered] has been reporting to Masimanyane about the high levels of rape in her area."

- Lesley Anne Foster, Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre

Mtirara had reportedly alerted the centre and raised her concerns about extortion.

"Women have to put money onto the windowsill of their homes after they get their grants to pay a protection fee from being raped."

- Lesley Anne Foster, Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre

Foster says when the centre's staff recently visited Lusikiski, where 18 people were shot and killed in the Ngobozana village in September, they found high levels of fear.

"Women are reluctant to even speak about the kind of atrocities that they face."

- Lesley Anne Foster, Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre

ALSO READ: ‘Public Protector has legitimised the experiences of women’ – GBV expert

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