Former MP resigned over AIDS denialism
The other factor was government’s decision to spend billions of rands on arms.
‘I disagreed with the questioning of whether HIV causes AIDS,’ Govender told a full house at the University of KwaZulu-Natal this week, when she delivered the Harold Wolpe lecture.
The focus of Govender’s lecture was on the gender implications of the Jacob Zuma trial.
She said that while she was not questioning the verdict of the trial, the trial had been conducted in an atmosphere of misogyny.
‘All the stereotypes came out. [The complainant] wore a skirt. She had slept with other men, so she had a history. She didn’t fight back. Women are liars. She asked for it.’
Govender added that she did not have a problem with the not-guilty verdict, which the judge had made based on the evidence before him.
‘But I have a problem with the adversarial way in which rape trials are conducted, and what a complainant has to go through.
‘Rape is only admissible when it is a violent rape by a stranger. But we all know that incest is rife’¦ that rape happens in homes where women and girls are supposed to be safe.’
Govender called for a national discussion on power, leadership and morality.
‘This [ANC] leadership is the same leadership that fought for the equal right in our Constitution. What happened?’
She urged people not to be despondent, concluding: ‘Women in this country are not powerless and there are men who respect this power as much as they respect themselves. It is time to assert the power of love and courage and to stimulate debate about our country. Misogyny is not just the hatred of women and girls. It is also hatred of the nurturing, kind part of men as well.’
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