The high number of rape cases in our region we read about on an almost weekly basis, is alarming.
The statistics of especially underaged girls being raped - and even killed - by fathers, stepfathers, uncles, nephews or family friends are even more distressing.
It is almost as if some kind of madness has been let loose among a disproportionate number of men.
I think we will be shocked if we could see the rape and murder figures over the past year alone.
But what really concerns me is that, apart from the customary condemnation of some politician or community leader with every atrocity reported, it appears as if there is little in terms of mobilisation by society to address this very serious scourge in our midst.
Is the perception that we have become almost accepting of the flood of evil that sweeps through our communities wrong?
I don’t think so.
We need much more than sporadic little noises when a woman or girl has been viciously abused and killed. We need a collective response such as we currently have with the Covid-19 crisis.
Religious, community and educational leaders, police structures and even the influencer role of captains of industry and the business sector - and of course the often complacent public must join hands to begin changing mindsets.
Instead of whispering, let all our voices be heard loud and clear every day, and not only during special campaign months. Women and children’s lives matter.
