Mthandazo’s day starts around 10 am. He heads down to Nkanini, Khayelitsha, and starts knocking on the shack doors. Surely the spring is here, but the violently unpredictable weather proves to him again that the only power he possesses is the message that was given to us. Over and over again he hears that the biggest problem is rape from the community members, which he already knows. What strikes him is how the community has been dealing with perpetrators. Over the years, they have resulted to two seemingly satisfying methods, burning or cutting off. There is no evidence that those proven to be ineffective methods should be considered otherwise there, but some people were placing strong trust in those ways. Mthandazo has been winning over many people, yet some can’t imagine that there is a better way.
At the end of the day, Mthandazo strolled down to the edge of the town. There was an older man at one of the mini-braai shops. He introduced himself as Nqwathi (his clan name). He was frying cow guts which is an unusual job for a man and can be considered demeaning for many. Mthandazo decided to share the campaign message and add him to his list of Reached-Outs. With the end of the day enthusiasm, Mthandazo went on. In the middle of the mini-speech, he stopped Mthandazo and started saying, “You know, I don’t hate them and especially I don’t blame them, the rapists or even other robbers.” Mthandazo asked, “What do you mean?” He went on to share the following.
“I know what you are talking about. I was born in Transkei and raised by my father and he was raised by his father. As I look back, we have taught our young ones to be that way. For them, they have no choice, but to be that way. Think about it, in Nkanini when we catch a rapist, we burn them to death or cut their penis off. That is the message we are giving to our young ones. They will grow up with such violence and they will do the same thing, and their children will do the same thing.”
We seek to empower those who are righteous and humble as Jesus have said theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.