Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T18:50:34.010Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The South African Sexual Offences Act and Local Meanings of Coercion and Consent in KwaZulu Natal: Universal Human Rights?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Judith L. Singleton
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

In 2007 South Africa's Parliament passed the Sexual Offences Act, which had been debated since 1999. The law includes a statutory provision with new legal definitions of rape and consent. Influenced by Western human rights ideology and vocabulary, the Sexual Offences Act represents one form of discourse in South Africa about sexual coercion and consent. By using ethnographic methods, this article examines the wide disparity between some of the state discourses about coercion and consent and local beliefs and practices about the meanings of these terms in the Zulu township of Mpophomeni. Proponents of South Africa's new democracy often ignore poor young women's and men's local understandings of rape and of the violence they encounter on a daily basis. Against this background, the article offers recommendations to improve the current law and its effectiveness.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Le parlement de l'Afrique du Sud a finalement ratifié en 2007 un projet de loi sur les délits sexuels qui était en débat depuis 1999. La loi contient une clause statutaire avec de nouvelles définitions sur la notion de viol et de consentement sexuel. Influencée par l'idéologie occidentale des droits de l'homme et son vocabulaire, cette loi représente une forme de discours en Afrique du Sud sur la coercition et le consentement sexuel. À l'aide de méthodes ethnographiques, cet article examine la grande disparité entre certains discours officiels sur la notion de coercition et de consentement, et les croyances et pratiques locales dans la commune Zulu de Mpophomeni. Les partisans de la nouvelle democratic sud africaine ignorent souvent les perceptions locales desjeunes hommes etjeunes femmes vivant dans la pauvreté sur les viols et la violence qu'ils rencontrent au quotidien. Dans ce contexte, cet article offre des recommandations pour améliorer cette loi et son efficacité.

Type
ASR Forum: The Case of Gender-Based Violence: Assessing the Impact of International Human Rights Rhetoric on African Lives
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , September 2012 , pp. 59 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashforth, Adam. 2003. “Law, Liquor and Urban Life: Reflections on Governance in Twentieth Century South Africa.”Google Scholar
Austin, J. L. 1975. How To Do Things with Words. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnin, Deborah Rosemary. 1987. “Class Consciousness and Conflict in The Natal Midlands, 1940–1987: The Case of B.T.R. Sarmcol Workers.” M.A. thesis: Department of Sociology, University of Natal.Google Scholar
Bonnin, Deborah Rosemary, and Sitas, Ari. 1988. “Lessons From The Sarmcol Strike.” In Popular Struggles in South Africa, edited by Cobbett, William and Cohen, Robin, 42–58. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Catherine. 2006. “Learning to Kill: Masculinity, the Family and Violence in Natal”. Journal of Southern African Studies 18 (3): 614–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Englund, Harri. 2006. Prisoners of Freedom: Human Rights and the African Poor. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Evans, Jenni, and Wolmarans, Riann. 2006a. “Zuma's Trial: ‘Oh, No! He Is on Top of Me.’” Mail and Guardian, March 6.Google Scholar
Evans, Jenni, and Wolmarans, Riann. 2006b. “Alleged Zuma Victim: ‘I Was Shit Scared.’“ Mail and Guardian, March 8.Google Scholar
Gouws, Amanda. 2005. “Rape Gone Wrong? Are Media Part of the Problem or Solution?” www.genderlinks.org.Google Scholar
Hearn, Julie. 2000. “Aiding Democracy? Donors and Civil Society in South Africa.” Third World Quarterly 21 (5a): 815–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, Mark. 2010. Love in the Time of AIDS: Inequality, Gender and Rights in South Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Jewkes, Rachel, and Abrahams, Naeema. 2002. “The Epidemiology of Rape and Sexual Coercion in South Africa: An Overview.” Social Science and Medicine 55 (7): 1231–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Krige, Eileen Jenson. 1936. The Social System of the Zulus. Pietermaritzburg, S.A.: Shuter and Shooter.Google Scholar
Mail and Guardian. 2006. “Zuma Rape Trial to Get Underway.” February 13.Google Scholar
Mare, Gerhard, and Hamilton, Georgina. 1987. An Appetite for Power: Buthelezi Inkatha and the Politics of ‘Loyal Resistance’ in South Africa. Johannesburg: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle. 2006. Human Rights and Gender Violence: Translating International Law Into Local Justice. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
New York Times. 2006a. “Zuma Trial Highlights South Africa's Rape Crisis.” March 7. www.nytimes.com.Google Scholar
New York Times. 2006b. “Zuma Accuser Tells South Africa Trial She Froze in Fear.” March 8. www.nytimes.com.Google Scholar
Peacock, Dean, and Levack, Andrew. 2004. “The Men as Partners Program in South Africa: Reaching Men to End Gender-Based Violence and Promote Sexual and Reproductive Health.” International Journal of Men's Healths (3): 173–88.Google Scholar
Posel, Deborah. 2005. “Baby Rape: Unmaking Secrets of Sexual Violence in PostApartheid South Africa. In Men Behaving Differently: South African Men since 1994, edited by Reid, Graeme and Walker, Liz, 21–64. Cape Town: Double Storey Books.Google Scholar
Rawoot, Ilham. 2009. “Activists Challenge Sexual Offences Stats.” The Mail and Guardian, October 23.Google Scholar
Reproductive Freedom News. 2002. New York: The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.Google Scholar
Reddy, Gayatri. 2005. With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robins, Steve. 2008. “Sexual Politics and the Zuma Rape Trial.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34 (2): 411–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, William I. 1996. Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, U.S. Intervention and Hegemony. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, Gayle. 1975. “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex.” In Toward an Anthropology of Women, edited by Reiter, Rayna R., 157–210. New York: Monthly Review Press.Google Scholar
Schultze, Wilhelm Georg. 1997. “The Origin and Legal Nature of the Stokvel.” South African Mercantile Law Journal 9 (1): 18–29.Google Scholar
Sefara, Makhudi. 2006. “Zuma's Harrowing Week of Shockers in the Dock.” City Press, April 9.Google Scholar
South African Law Commission. 1999. “Sexual Offences: The Substantive Law.” Discussion Paper 85, Project 107.Google Scholar
Turshen, Meredith. 2002. “Engendering Relations of State to Society in the After-math.” In The Aftermath: Women in Post-Conflict Transformation, edited by Meintjes, Sheila, Pillay, Anu, and Turshen, Meredith, 78–96. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Vetton, Lisa. 2010. “Women Still Suffer Alone.” The Sowetan, August 10.Google Scholar
Vilakazi, Absolom. 1962. Zulu Transformations: A Study of Dynamics of Social Change. Pietermaritzburg, S. A.: University of Natal Press.Google Scholar
Weismantel, Mary. 2001. Cholas and Pishtacos: Stories of Race and Sex in the Andes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Richard. 2001. The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Legitimizing the Post-Apartheid State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar