The Times Sunday
newspaper in Swaziland is at the centre of another row after its columnist Qalakaliboli
Dlamini wrote that battered women in the kingdom were to blame when men were violent
against them.
He also said that the serial killer David Simelane, recently sentenced to hang for the murder of 32 women, might have been driven
to the crimes because he was once falsely accused of rape by a woman.
Dlamini, who earlier this year was suspended from writing
his column for the newspaper after readers were outraged by homophobic comments
he wrote, was criticising the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
campaign.
He wrote that ‘most’ women who were victims of violence brought
it upon themselves. He also said women were to blame for turning men violent.
He wrote, ‘In fact, when a woman is battered, she may
have caused more internal damage to the male who will have caused her external
harm. Let us be honest with each other, women are the biggest abusers in the
world.’
He said women were ‘culprits’ not ‘victims’. He said, ‘Women
have carved themselves as the victims of this world and they are demanding even
more than they deserve.’
He added, ‘Women find comfort in portraying themselves as
victims.’
In a confused piece of writing, he also seemed to say
that it was understandable why serial killer David Simelane murdered 32 women …
it was because he had once been falsely accused by a woman of raping her.
He wrote, ‘Simelane once said he had served a prison term
of seven years for a rape he never committed, which was the reason he had so
much resentment towards women.’
Commentators on social networks, including Facebook, were
quick to condemn Dlamini. Some are suggesting an advertising boycott against
the Times of Swaziland, the group that
owns the Times Sunday.
Dlamini is no stranger to controversy. In May 2012 he was
suspended after he wrote that he was a proud homophobe and he hated
homosexuals. Times Sunday editor Innocent Maphalala ‘unreservedly’ apologised after
an ‘unprecedented’ number of readers complained.
See also
NEW ATTACK ON ‘TIMES’ HATE SPEECH
GAY HATE JOURNALIST UNREPENTANT
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