My Story: Lerato

A personal story…Lerato Walaza, who played ‘Zamo’ in MTV Shuga: Down South, shared a personal account of her experiences with gender based violence…

As women, we should be protected and nurtured for, but that is not always the case. We constantly live in a state of fear and anxiety where we think, ‘what if I’m the next victim’?

On a daily, I go through thoughts about the possible dangers that surround me. Whether I get into a taxi alone and wonder whether the driver will run off with me to the middle of nowhere or simply be someone’s ‘perfect eyecandy’, just by the way I look or dress.

I love gyming, love feeling good and looking good. Gyming is a confidence booster and a personal experience, but the minute I walk out of the house my confidence is instantly tainted by the looks, calls and ‘praises’ – as defended by the men whom some I regard as father, refer to me as “my size” or “motho waka”.

I was walking to the gym one day and I felt someones presence walking right behind my shoulder. I looked back and saw a man who asked, “how or what do you expect me to do when you dressed up like this, in tight clothes?” I stood my ground and told him to back off and leave me alone. I immediately walked away. Luckily we were on the main road with lots of cars passing by, so I was safe, but the truth of the matter is; had those cars not been there, what could’ve happened?

My body has always been subjected to restrictions. I have been denied my right to freedom of expression by choosing the clothes I like without being undressed by men in the streets. I have been denied the ability to say ‘no’ to a man, for that alone gives him the right to become aggressively violent with me both emotionally and physically. Even though we act deaf at times, words leave an emotional and mental scar.

The patriarchal world needs to be demolished.

Lerato Walaza.

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