Dear Men

I am writing to remind you that, for every three hours a woman is murdered in South Africa. I am deeply in distress with the safety of women in Africa. I am not going to apologise for being a woman. This is because it is not my duty to remind you that, I am not physically as strong as you are.

It is not my duty to train you that murder is forbidden. In fact, I am appalled that you want to be educated about ethics right now. Why is it that the nation should sacrifice the time to teach you about integrity? Why is it we must focus our attention on your inability to act accordingly? Must you consistently remind us that you are stronger than us physically? I am deeply outraged.

The audacity to take a life and the life of an unborn angel. The audacity to end a beautiful beginning breaks my soul.

I do not believe that you comprehend the meaning of protection.

The nation is in dismay. It is because you consistently want to remind us of your entitlement to women. Congratulations on making the headlines and increasing more numbers to the statistics. You like coming out first place, don’t you?

With that said, it is a difficult time faced by many South African women. We question our place, protection, and safety. We walk around hoping and praying no harm be done to us by the men that we trust or are intimate with. We sometimes wonder if we will reach our destinations with the cat-calling or rape culture encounters.

It upsets me that we are vulnerable in a nation full of predators. At any time of the day something can happen to us. At any given moment, you can stab us to death pregnant or not. At any given moment, our bodies can be found hanging from trees.

The truth is that the fight against Femicide, Gender-Based violence and rape starts with you. Let me be frank, you do not require qualifications to know the meaning of NO and STOP. Its just requires actions coming from you. So right now, STOP IT and NO!

Rest in peace to the angels

Will write soon.

Sincerely

Outraged woman