Castration: A viable punishment for rape?

Rape and defilement continue to be the most committed crimes all over the world and they take high rankings in some of Africa’s most conflict ridden areas. The UN revealed that on average, some 40 women were raped every day in a period of two years in just one of the towns of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has a population of between 200,000 and 300,000 people. According to a South African website, a female born in South Africa has a greater chance of being raped in her lifetime than learning how to read. The situation was so embarrassing that the South African government placed a moratorium on government crime statistics, stating that they needed reassessment. Different countries have different laws that should punish perpetrators of these acts, but the wrongdoers often get off scot-free. With such loose laws, some countries have devised alternative means. Among those countries is Tanzania. Recently Tanzanian legislators emphasised the need for a new law that would make it mandatory to castrate men found guilty of rape or defilement of children. To show how determined they were, MPs Haroub Masoud and Martha Mlata said that human rights should not be used as an excuse to prevent the castration from going on. Sophia Simba, the minister responsible for good governance, replied that the current legal framework does not provide for such punishment. In total disregard of the MPs’ proposal, Simba insisted on the importance of education and sensitisation of the public on the matter rather than relying on harsh sentences for offenders. In a recent discussion with a Tanzanian friend, John Magombana, he narrated to me a scenario when a woman cut off a man’s genitals after he defiled her daughter. “What was actually behind the woman’s mind when taking up this act was that much as this had happened to her daughter, she was fully convinced that the offender will not rape any more innocent girls,” Magombana told me. With laxity in some African laws, one cannot blame women when they take matters into their own hands if the law is not there to protect them. These are not the first African parliamentarians to come out and call for castration of rapist and defilers. A few years ago, former Ugandan legislator Miria Matembe advised women to castrate rapists and defilers. Some laughed while others thought it was Matembe’s way of getting into the papers. But some women actually took Matembe’s advice seriously. A mother from Mbarara in Uganda, Angelina Kyomugisha was weeding in her garden when she heard her 10-year old daughter cry out. Upon going to check what the matter was, she discovered 40-year-old Geoffrey Mugarura sexually abusing her daughter. And she did what came naturallyt: protect her daughter. That protection cost the rapist his manhood. There has been much talk of what Kyomugisha did. What she did is save many girls who would have been raped by this man. Contact: gmuramila@yahoo.com