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Africa has one of the highest percentage of rape cases in the world and the culture of maligning the victim of rape into silence further makes it difficult for victims to come clean and for culprits to face justice. South Africa is however currently buzzing with the #MeToo global social media challenge and some notable figures have lent their voice to the movement including the grand daughter of former South African president, Nelson Mandela.
Ndileka Mandela, who is Mandela’s oldest grand child shared her painful experience in a recent post on Facebook. She shared
“9 August 2012 is a day that will remain etched in my mind. Yes RAPED! A lot of men still think that rape between partners is a strange phenomenon.” Ndileka Mandela went on to reveal how her and her partner had to discuss finance and how against her instincts, she allowed him access into her apartment. She added that after watching football with her son for a while, he approached her in her bedroom.
“He came up to bed later and started kissing me, I told him to stop as I was premenstrual and my breasts were tender and I just wanted to sleep,” she wrote. “He did not listen, continued to kiss me while taking my underwear off. He kept both my arms pinned above my head as he penetrated me.”
“I said no so many times. He kept thrusting over and over again and I started crying,” Mandela said. She later revealed in an interview how she did not want to scream because she did not want her son to see her in such a compromising situation. She also recounts how she pleaded with him to stop but he said “You like it rough sometimes’. In this case, in this instance, I said no. If you say no, it is rape,” she said. “Even if you like the kinky stuff, if you say no, it is no.”
Ndileka Mandela shared that it took close family and friends to help her recover from the ordeal. On why she did not report the case, Mandela shared that the fear of dragging her family in the mud especially as her grand father’s health had deteriorated so badly at the time as well as the prejudice against rape victims made her withdraw from the world.
