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For Edwin naidu 
7h ago
Johannesburg – More than a decade ago, in the wake of the euphoria surrounding South Africa’s successful hosting of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, the dreams of Joburg businesswoman Andy Kawa fell apart after she was raped in a 15 hour trial on a beach in the Eastern Cape.
He was visiting his old hometown to finalize the purchase of a house for his mother and, with time to spare before returning to Joburg on December 9, 2010, he decided to park the car and take a walk around 2pm in King’s Beach. And so began his decade-long nightmare.
According to court documents, in broad daylight she was assaulted, stripped of her personal belongings and dragged into the bushes on the inland side of the beach by an unknown man. The man ordered her to walk with him to the sand dunes. Fearing for his life, he did what he was ordered to do. When they reached the dunes, the assailant told her to remove her clothes, they blindfolded her with it and raped her.
During the rest of the afternoon, she was raped several times. At the time, she thought it was the same man who was simply changing his pants between rapes, then came to believe that he had been more than one assailant and that she had in fact been gang-raped.
Towards sunset, the original assailant returned. Plaintiff knew this because he spoke to her and she recognized his voice. He stayed the rest of the night during which he continued to rape her. And he continued to threaten his life.
She remembered things she had read about other women who had survived similar experiences. He decided to do whatever it took to survive. She struck up a conversation with him in hopes of dissuading him from further raping or killing her.
When Kawa did not return home to pick up her friend who would accompany her to the airport and she missed her flight, a relative reported her missing. A SAPS alert was issued. At around 11:30 p.m. the night before, members of Humewood SAPS found her car in the Kings Beach parking lot. He had been mugged.
The relevant police units were activated and the investigation of the incident began. Kawa managed to escape her abductor (s) in the early hours of December 10, 2010 and sought the help of a group of men who were out for an early morning run.
She was taken to the King’s Beach parking lot and then to the Humewood Police Station by one of the corridors. In all, she had been held captive in the sand dunes and constantly raped for a period of approximately fifteen hours.
Subsequently, Kawa began a ten-year battle for justice. The perpetrators of the crime have not yet been arrested.
Then, in 2018, Kawa went to court claiming that SAPS unfairly and negligently violated its duty to investigate crimes committed against him; alternatively, if they investigated it, they did not do so with the skill, care and diligence required by reasonable police officers. As a result of this Kawa said that SAPS has caused him psychological harm and is liable for damages.
A decision by Acting Justice Sarah Shepton that the police should be held responsible for the trauma Kawa had suffered was reversed after SAPS successfully appealed the finding to the Supreme Court of Appeals and won on May 6, 2020.
On Tuesday, Kawa released a final offer of relief from the Constitutional Court that saw his traumatic experience once again as he sought justice in an original claim against the Minister of Security for alleged negligence on the part of his employees.
After Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng booked the trial this week, Kawa told The Sunday Independent that it has been the longest 10 years of his life. “There have been continuous fights of ups and downs and in between. I will know the result in three to six months, so it is another wait for the Constitutional Court to decide if the SAP mishandled my case. However, the irony is that the perpetrators have not yet been arrested, but I must prove in court that those who handled my case were not negligent, “he said.
Last October, as part of the healing, Kawa bared her soul in a book, Kwanele, Enough! published by NB Publishers. It has not been easy.
“As a businesswoman, it is still difficult for me to function optimally with what I am going through. When my funds ran out, the Norton Rose Fulbright SA Law Firm continued to support me. It is difficult, but I remain grateful for the financial, emotional, and physical support I receive from friends and family. It’s difficult, ”he said.
The expert evidence in court showed that the traumatic incident has had a debilitating effect on Kawa and has changed every aspect of her life. According to court documents, it was not disputed that due to the traumatic incident, she suffered a serious and long-lasting psychological injury.
It was also not disputed that due to the perceived or actual paucity of the investigation and the delay in completing the investigation and bringing the perpetrators to the registry, psychological injuries have worsened.
Kawa said she was not sure the police learned from mishandling her trauma. “If his incompetence is defended and financed by us taxpayers, this is how I lived it. The sad reality is that the billions spent on campaigns to encourage women to ‘speak up’ will never be effective if the police do not investigate and the courts do not convict: our bodies will remain crime scenes; violent crimes will continue to haunt us. That is our sad reality as women in this country, ”she said.
“I have survived a painful ordeal that changed my life forever. So when justice is delayed, it puts me in limbo, re-traumatization, re-victimization. If ConCourt fails in my favor, it is not just for me, but it could bring about a change in the way women who have fought and continue to fight for the same issues keep hope alive in their fight for justice.
As long as the perpetrators are not arrested, there will still be no justice for me, he added.
* Edwin Naidu writes for the Wits Justice Project (WJP). Based in the journalism department of the University of the Witwatersrand, the WJP investigates human rights abuses and judicial errors related to the South African criminal justice system.
Independent Sunday
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