I spoke to Mtirara and others as part of Human Rights Watch’s investigation about access to justice for sexual violence. Once described as “a magical kingdom” and “delightful” by Nelson Mandela, who spent his formative years in Mqhekezweni, today the village is battling high rates of house robberies, petty crime, stock theft, murder and, as Mtirara points out, rape.
“The problems we are experiencing in our village are rape, killing and general lawlessness that has reached crisis proportions. People are raped, killed, shot, and their livestock stolen. There are two women in the village that were raped, after two months they are raped again, after another three months they are raped. The situation has become so bad that several families have abandoned their homes in fear for their lives.” These words of Nogcinile Mtirara, a 70-year-old woman and a member of
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