Usually most
images posted on social media do not have captions. Most senders have received them
elsewhere and merely want to “pass on” with no comments. Only a few people
write meaningful captions. Majority of us think the internet is a place of self
exhibition and self reassurance. I am here.
Watch me. Me, me, me.... But the duty of social information, as every true
journalist knows is inform, educate, break news to our communities and
eventually assist in meaningful change.
That is why I liked recent captions by
a prominent Tanzanian businessman
recently. Both are in the two main official languages of Tanzania. In the first
one, displayed last week, Mwafrika Merinyo, wrote :
“Cruelty against
women goes unabated in Tanzania
Ukatili dhidi ya
wanawake unaendelea bila vikwazo Tanzania!”
Although many
citizens speak more Swahili than English, Merinyo’s intention is to reach readers
of all nationalities in the East African region. No Swanglish. No half this; quarter
that.
Such captions show
social responsibility and an educated mind. If you have visited Merinyo’s “Afrika
Sana” cultural centre in Dar es Salaam you will understand a man who cares for
our identity and indigenous products.
The harrowing
footage is 2 minutes approximately and very uncomfortable to see. Three men hold a woman like a goat being
slaughtered. One bloke has both legs together; second clasps her hands while a
third keeps his foot on her shoulder – subsequently, the victim cannot escape.
I say victim, with the same bias as the writer of the caption. What would she
have done to deserve such a humiliation in 2016-2017 Tanzania?
We are not told
why the grown up woman being flogged endlessly by both men and women deserves
punishment. I am saying flogging but it is a beating.
The only way to
gauge and understand this clip is through the various reactions. There are those
who click “like”-now wait.
Like.
Do you click “like” because you have enjoyed
her sadistic ordeal or for what? Then
there are several shares. Obviously by sharing the horror, the Facebook crowd
would be spreading the bi-Lingual message. Thanks God. Or thanks Satan?
Over ten comments, most in Swahili, wonder how
among the beaters are women too? There is one who explains that the victim was
given a choice of being burnt to death or flogged. Finally the analysts. One says males are also flogged. IT is not
just women. Hither lies the fundamental issue.
Someone quotes President Nyerere’s quest to
have corrupt people being flogged – 10 times as they enter prison and 10 when
they leave. The quest was however abandoned after “Wazungus” said it was a
breach of human rights, he alleges.
Speaking of our
late Father of the Nation, the second video is claimed to originate in the Mara
region. Here a younger woman lies on the
ground as men take turns to whip her.
Flogging or whipping would mean a thin stick, or a cane, but here is a thick
tree branch which might break bones and cause serious damage. One of the
comments demands how come our authorities are quick to arrest members of the opposition
but not such monsters of human rights? Another enquires how come our rural people
are only defended by social media but not the traditional press. Another says
he (note he, not she), cannot bear to watch the video.
This form of
ancient punishment is according to the United Nations practised in very few
places on earth, i.e. Islamic societies re enforcing Sharia and a few others,
including Tanzania. Like other forms of
public humiliation the aim is to deter those who have broken social rules.
We know in our
African societies, women are still discriminated, especially villages. Recent
announcement by the Prime Minister to ensure girls are educated up to form 6 and
30 years imprisonment for men impregnating female students of 24 years and below
is good. But is that enough? How about rural policies, old traditions and local
law enforcement? How about our female journalists, NGOs and other
professionals? How about female genital mutilation too? What are we all doing
to expose this form of behaviour? Two years ago a video of suspected male and
female “witchdoctors” being burnt to death somewhere in Kenya has since generated
over a million viewers on You Tube. Such episodes are widespread across Africa.
Meaning the practise goes on “unabated” as Mwafrika Merinyo’s Facebook caption pointed
above.
Are these
practises useful?
Are the so called
“social culprits” truly guilty?
Who knows if they
were really guilty?
Are these forms of
extreme punishment better than what we call “humane” ways of punishment, i.e.
court of law, prisons and financial penalties? How come in the developed world
murders of children, rape and killings continue rising despite perpetrators
getting life sentences and death penalties i.e. lethal injections (USA)? What would
work best to stop certain extreme crimes?
-Published Citizen Tanzania on January 27 , 2017
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