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Mbombela - The Mpumalanga Older Persons Forum has condemned the circulation of a video of community members insensitively interviewing an elderly woman who had just been raped.
The video, which is believed to be from the Bushbuckridge area, became the butt of jokes on social networks, where people laughed at the way the elderly woman explained her rape ordeal.
"This is tantamount to rubbing red pepper on an open wound. The perpetrator, a young boy, has dragged the self-esteem of a defenceless gogo through the mud. We condemn such practices in the strongest terms," said the forum’s chairperson, Moses Habile.
Habile, who saw the video, said it was clear that the person who took the video had no good intentions.
"He was clearly making fun of the despicable situation," said Habile.
In the video, which is in Sepulana, the woman accuses her brother's son of raping her.
The interviewer then lures the elderly woman to explicitly explain how she felt when she was being raped.
The Mpumalanga Older Persons Forum called for community members to address the person who took the video as he was re-victimising the elderly woman.
"The dignity, privacy and rights of the gogo have been violated. It is a disgrace that the granny suffered at the hands of her nephew and an insensitive and disrespectful interviewer took a video and distributed it.
"The youth should join hands and isolate this young man. I look forward to them to assist the community in stemming out such uncalled for behaviour. The parents and other family members should publicly condemn the behaviour of the [attacker].
Equally, the person who made the video is guilty for further victimising the victim," Habile said.
Meanwhile, the Commission for Gender Equality in Mpumalanga has promised to trace the elderly woman so they can intervene.
"We will have to attain the details of the complainant or a witness so that we can assist and intervene," said
