South African Men as Savages: The Testimony of Pumza Fihlani

The recent murder of the young South African lady, Karabo Mokoena, has brought to the fore the violence that South African women and women around the world suffer at the hands of men - they are often not only harassed and humiliated but also disfigured and murdered. In the wake of the brutal murder of Mokoena, the BBC Johannesburg correspondent, Pumza Fihlani, has written a short but powerful cry for help. In the piece she portrays South African women as living in fear of their men who prowl, like savages, waiting to harm the suspicious woman at any time. Now we can say that painting all South African men as savages does them great injustice because there are surely some very decent men in South Africa. However, this would not do justice to the fear Ms. Fihlani manifests in her piece. A fearful person does not have time to discriminate between the good and the bad. The concern should be addressing the cause of the fear. South African men should be ashamed that their women live in such fear. This shame should spur them to do all that is in their power to restore safety to their communities because a society that kills its women is sure destined for extinction. Perhaps this is why some South African scholars have described the violence against women in that country as tantamount to signing a covenant with death.