South Africans in mini-skirts on the run from macho thugs

[Ian David]

South Africans in mini-skirts on the run from macho thugs
Feb 22, 2008, 15:54 GMT

Johannesburg - 'Women have to respect themselves. What is that saying? You judge a book by its cover,' Sibusiso, 25, says from the back seat of a stationary minibus at Johannesburg's Noord Street taxi rank.

'What those men did was wrong, but I think they were trying to tell her something,' he says, his shoulder-length dreadlocks capped by a hat marked 'tsotsi' (township slang for gangster).

'That's right,' says Jabulani, a taxi driver, leaning over the headrest from the front passenger seat, his round face glistening with sweat from the heat of the midday sun. 'I think they were trying to teach her a lesson.'

<snip>

It was here on Sunday that taxi drivers and hawkers joined forces to teach one young woman 'a lesson.' Nwabisa Ngcukana, 25, was stripped, sexually assaulted and doused in alcohol for wearing a mini-skirt.

The security guards who rescued her laughed at her indignation and told her she was the fourth woman to get a 'dressing down' that night.

More:
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/africa/features/article_1392492.php/South_Africans_in_mini-skirts_on_the_run_from_macho_thugs

[Clovis Sangrail]

1. I had no idea S. Africa was like that

I'm reading on it now... tnx.

[Ian David]

2. In other ways, they're a very progressive country where things like gay marriage is legal. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Me either! Are there a lot of strict religions there?

[HamdenRice]

6. Not in the area mentioned

Generally, South Africans are pretty relaxed. There is a strong Islamic movement in and around Cape Town among "Coloured" South Africans who have been Muslims for centuries since being brought to the colony as slaves.

There are also Muslim "Indians" especially around Durban, but in my travels I found that community to be very relaxed about religion.

Then there are the white Afrikaner "Doppers" -- Dutch Reformed Church goers who are a bit of a cross between strict Calvinists, and our Christian fundamentalists, and Pennsylvania Dutch.

Many of the Black Christian churches are culturally conservative but politically liberal.

Given the area cited, these people were neither Muslims nor Afrikaners. This is more likely a result of a certain kind of African cultural traditionalism, especially Zulu, Swazi, and other ethnic patriarchical thinking.

[HamdenRice]

3. a bit OT, but I have always been shocked by SA school girl uniforms

When I used to go there, almost all students had to wear uniforms to school. I'm not sure if that is still true.

I remember being shocked by how short the girls' skirts were. That's why this article is a bit strange -- the school systems' uniforms are already miniskirts.

Then when they are finished with school they tend to wear long, conservative skirts.

Very strange fashion in that country.

[Orsino]

4. "...wrong, but..."

There's the beast. Right there.

[WinkyDink]

7. Oh, brilliant: "What is that saying? You judge a book by its cover,"