Cape Town – South African Police Minister Bheki Cele has ruffled feathers yet again after saying that a 19-year-old girl was “lucky” to be raped by one man.
Cele was in conversation with eNCA anchors Thulasizwe Simelane and Sally Burdett on Friday last week where he spoke about the developments in the Krugersdorp rape incident, in which eight women were recently gang raped.
A video clip from the interview has since gone viral on social media.
In the clip, Cele can be seen saying: “One woman was raped by 10 different men. The other one by eight, the other one by six, the other one by four, the other by three. The one 19-year-old was lucky, if it is lucky, to be raped by one man.”
Watch the clip below:
Minister of police Bheki Cele
“A 19 year girl was lucky to be raped by one man” #PhalaPhalaFarmGate pic.twitter.com/m0qqqomYig
— Banele (@Gentlements) August 3, 2022
Cele’s comment was made in the context of the 19-year-old being the only one who had not been gang-raped in comparison to others. But despite qualifying the sentence with “if it is lucky”, Cele received backlash from Twitter users.
Take a look at some of the Twitter reactions below:
There is nothing lucky about being raped, not even by one person who threatened your life with a gun to submit to their power and will.
As an elder, Bheki Cele should learn to measure his words.
— HlatseSekgobela???? (@John_Hlatse) August 3, 2022
The idea that Bheki Cele misspoke when saying a rape survivor was “lucky” only one man had raped her, is sheer bullshit.
Even if applying the principle of charity, what do you imagine he WANTED to say in isiZulu?
Don’t insult us. Cele is incompetent BEYOND (all our) langauges.
— Eusebius McKaiser (@Eusebius) August 3, 2022
TW rape : In a normal country, Bheki Cele would’ve been forced to resign after his reckless utterances on live TV. Never in my entire life has rape (be it once or multiple times) ever been okay . Who the hell says someone is lucky because they were raped once ?
— Babs (@missmeyong) August 3, 2022
Imagine if my incident got into Bheki Cele’s radar, nkebe a itse I’m lucky I was only stabbed 6 times. ??
— MD@LC3 (@Asolelm) August 2, 2022
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Picture: Twitter/@tndaba
For more African news visit, Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Sinothando Siyolo
