Stopping the abduction of girls in the name of custom is everyone’s business

South Africa is more than halfway through commemorating Women's Month. August is usually a time when emphasis is placed on the two extremes of being a woman: the extraordinary achievements of some and the brutality suffered at the hands of men.

Both are important stories to tell. We need to celebrate those women who have shattered glass ceilings and dominated in what is perceived to be a man's world. Women such as Zintle Mpupha, the Eastern Cape-born captain of the Women's national rugby sevens team, Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi  and distinguished Rhodes University professor Tebello Nyokong, to name a few.

These women, and so many others, inspire change and instil hope. It's necessary for young girls to hear these stories and to know that anything is possible. Equally important is the need to highlight the everyday plight of women and young girls. It  serves as a stark and constant reminder that we have a long way to go as a country.

The Daily Dispatch on Tuesday reported on the rescue of an 18-year-old from ukuthwala — the act of abducting young girls and forcing them into marriage. The girl was only 14 when she was allegedly forced to marry an older man. She now has a three-year-old child. Both have since been taken to a place of safety. Only a week ago a Grade 12 teen from Willowvale was rescued from an alleged ukuthwala marriage. Arrests have since been made.

The practice of ukuthwala is still accepted in some communities, especially in the rural Eastern Cape, due to the influence of a strongly patriarchal system in place there. Forced marriage is one way for poor families to get financial benefit from their daughters.

Ukuthwala not only violates a girl's right to education, but her rights over her own body. Girls have shared stories of being raped by "husbands". Some end up pregnant, forced to raise a child although still a child herself.  

Eradicating the custom will be difficult but it starts with law enforcement and the justice system acting against those implicated. Girls need to know that the situation is not hopeless, and that they are protected by the law. But most importantly, communities have to speak up for vulnerable girls and report criminality disguised as tradition.