PE rape survivor Andy Kawa revisits ordeal in memoir

She was just taking an afternoon stroll on Kings Beach when she was abducted, gang-raped and held captive for 15 hours — and 10 years later justice has still not been served.

Since the ordeal that irrevocably changed her life, former Port Elizabeth businesswoman Andy Kawa has not only fought a mental war to conquer the trauma but has spent years in court battles with the police, who allegedly failed to properly investigate her case.

Kawa’s story is detailed in her vulnerable memoir Kwanele, Enough! which she launched on Friday evening with Exclusive Books.

During a virtual conversation with book launch facilitator Shado Twala, Kawa detailed how the ordeal eternally changed not only her life but that of her daughter, family and friends.

Moreover, her continuous quest to sue the police for mishandling her case had further exposed the flaws of the country’s justice system, she said.

No arrests were ever made in the case.

“The way my case was handled is not unique — it is similar to [those of] many people who end up with case numbers and never hear from their investigators.

“I believe in a good justice and police system because I believe they’re necessary for the safety of the people.

“But unfortunately the treatment [of victims of gender-based violence] is sub-optimum,” Kawa said.

She said the police and investigators were gatekeepers of the people’s justice as cases depended on their thorough investigation before going to court.

Kawa, whose perpetrators were never arrested, sued the police for mishandling her case and Port Elizabeth High Court acting judge Sarah Shepton in 2018 found that the police should be held responsible for the trauma Kawa had incurred.

However, the police appealed against the finding at the Supreme Court of Appeal and won. Kawa is in the process of appealing with the Constitutional Court.

She said SA needed to take cases of gender-based violence with the seriousness it had taken the Covid-19 pandemic.

“If we look at how the country responded to the coronavirus — creating a command council and monitoring every incident that is happening, about to happen and likely to happen ... We need that kind of response for gender-based violence,” she said.

She termed gender-based violence as a pandemic that had plagued the country for years.

“This country has been at war against its women and children and everyone needs to become a part of the solution because perpetrators are not just monsters who come out of the forest. They are [members of our society],” Kawa said.

She called on President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ministry of women to establish a command council to curb gender-based violence.

Now based in Johannesburg, Kawa said it was an ongoing fight to overcome the trauma of the 2010 ordeal.

“The trauma is continuous for me because I still have the case hanging over my head and I need support.

“I have found that with a good therapist one can deal with the ups and downs of the depression that comes with the journey,” she said.

Kwanele, Enough! is published by NB Publishers.

HeraldLIVE