The Times, 5 March

Hundreds of South African women took to the streets on March 4 calling for the end to sexual harassment after a young woman was assaulted by taxi drivers for wearing a miniskirt.

The demonstrators marched to the Johannesburg taxi rank where the attack took place, demanding action from the Government and for taxi associations to punish those responsible for such acts. Minibus taxis are notorious for packing in as many passengers as possible and for their poor safety record. Women passengers are often exposed to taunts, jeers, and drunken sexual advances from both drivers and fellow travellers.

In the latest incident Nwabisa Ngeukana, 25, was set upon by taxi operators as she was travelling from her Soweto home to work at a bar in the upmarket suburb of Sandton. They stripped her and sexually assaulted here as ‘punishment’ for being ‘indecently dressed’. Ms Ngeukana was paraded naked around the rank while onlookers jeered and beer was poured over her.

This incident has highlighted violence against women in South Africa, which has one of the highest incidents of rape in the world. According to official statistics, nearly 23,000 women were raped in the six months to the end of September. Further, women’s rights groups contend that only one in nine attacks is reported.

Redi Direko, a radio talk show host led the march, dressed in a miniskirt, orange strap-top, and high heels. She said, ‘It is time to end all this. Drivers need to be taught how to behave. There is no dress code for women who frequent the taxi rank’. The protestors who t-shirts, saying ‘pissed-off women’, and some held placards reading ‘we love our minis’.