The hapless Judge Mabel Jansen’s recently exposed comments on social media that black South Africans have a culture of rape were crass and offensive. Jansen commented inter alia that she had “yet to meet a black girl who was not raped by the age of 12” and that in black culture “a woman is there to pleasure them. Period. It is seen as an absolute right and a woman’s consent is not required.”
There is something quite touching in the ANC’s belief that it can solve complex economic and social problems simply by promulgating new laws. What is not so endearing is the underlying notion that the state has a right to intrude into the legitimate affairs of private businesses, civil society organisations and political parties in its efforts to impose its ideological precepts throughout society. That has the whiff of totalitarianism‐ however benign the intentions may ostensibly be.
SPEECH BY F W DE KLERK TO THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S FORUM OF SOUTH AFRICA, SANDTON, 31 JANUARY 2003 RECONCILIATION AND PEACE Ladies,
