Despite being provided with unequivocal proof that the President of Athletics Free State (AFS) is a rapist who is still serving a suspended sentence, Athletics South Africa (ASA) are content to let him run free amongst vulnerable women and children under his ‘care and custodianship’. Court documents confirming the rape conviction were originally presented to ASA in July 2024. After legal pressure, ASA finally met with the AFS Board eight months later on 21 February but have delayed making any decision or taking any action against the rapist until 15 March. However, they did issue a ‘gag order’ against whistleblowers within the AFS athletics structures from ‘talking to the media’. The complete lack of action from the ASA Board is normalising rape culture in South Africa.
Rhetoric around Gender Based Violence (GBV) is everywhere. You can’t escape it. From billboards to t-shirts, from hashtags to celebrities on social media and of course politicians looking concerned and saying all the right things in front of television cameras. Sadly, it is even harder for women and vulnerable persons to escape the actual rapists and sexual predators – especially when they are men in positions of power.
The rapists are no longer lurking in the shadows, they are sitting comfortably in the boardrooms and greedily massaging in the changerooms. Talk is cheap and the politicians and officials entrusted with protecting our women and children are easily bought when the rapist is rich and powerful.
Continue reading “ASA Happy to let Rapist Run Loose Amongst Vulnerable Young Athletes (Normalising Rape Culture in South Africa)”