As journalists, we try to keep abreast of all of the latest news.
On Tuesday, whilst sitting at my desk – smelling of cigarette smoke and that first cup of morning coffee (that somehow always smells sweeter) – the very first “breaking news” story of the day broke.
Amy Lee de Jager, a six-year-old little girl, had been grabbed from her mother’s arms and abducted by four men whilst her mother was attempting to drop her off at school.
And suddenly it hit me; I’m not safe either.
I don’t know if it’s because Amy Lee de Jager and I share a similar name, or because I remember what it was like being a vulnerable Grade R girl – depending on the kindness of those around me simply to stay alive – but it hit me.
South Africa is no place for a little girl, in fact – it’s no place for women either.
And it’s nothing new; we’ve just been ignoring it.
Susan Rohde (murdered by her husband) would have told you, Winnie Rust (murdered by a close male friend) would have told you, Karabo Mokoena (murdered by her boyfriend) would have told you, Hannah Cornelius (raped and murdered by four men) would have told you, Leighandre Jegels (boxing champion, murdered by her boyfriend) would have told you, Meghan Cremer (murdered by three men) would have told you, Uyinene Mrwetyana (killed by a man working at the post office) would have told you, 14-year-old Janika Mallo (who was raped and had her head bashed in with a concrete block) would have told you.
South Africa is no place for a woman.
We call her ‘Mama Afrika,’ – the soil that birthed us.
We see our very continent as a womb that brought us, and our ancestors, forth. Africa is a woman; and yet we are treated with such disdain.
Worthless wombs.
We all suckled at the breast of our mother, and were swaddled and sung to when we wept for reasons her over-tired, running-on-three-hours-of-sleep brain couldn’t quite understand.
No matter how much we screamed in infancy, when she most needed rest, she treated us with kindness and love.
And in return, what do we give women?
A phobia of leaving their own homes? Murder? Rape?
And what if I’m next?
What if you’re next?
