'Castrate taxi drivers'
04/03/2008 21:46 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Hundreds of men and women protested in Johannesburg on Tuesday against a recent attack on a miniskirt-clad woman at the city's Noord Street Taxi Rank.
One of the protesters, Wendy Morgan, said she thought the taxi drivers needed to be castrated.
Radio personality Redi Direko - dressed in a miniskirt, orange strap top and high-heel sandals - led a group of miniskirt-wearing women in a march from the Art Gallery.
They demanded an end to a**aults on women who chose to "dress up and embrace their femininity".
"Drivers need to be taught how to behave, this doesn't end here, there is no dress code for women who frequent the taxi rank, and we say to the drivers 'mind your job'," Direko said.
She was speaking to taxi a**ociation bosses once the ma** of people reached the taxi rank.
'We love our minis'
The protesters wore T-shirts saying "Pissed off women" and chanted songs while holding placards reading "We love our minis"; "We aren't road signs, you need to respect us" and "There are no shortcuts to women's rights".
The march was the second in reaction to an attack last month by taxi drivers and hawkers on a 25-year-old woman, Nwabisa Ngcukana, for wearing a miniskirt.
Taxi drivers and hawkers allegedly tore off her clothing because she was being "taught a lesson about wearing a miniskirt".
They also allegedly put their fingers in her private parts while others poured alcohol over her head and called her names.
Taxi drivers gathered at the rank, screaming and whistling at the women who were wearing miniskirts.
'Women need to be taught a lesson'
A nearby woman was asked to translate what they were saying and said: "They are saying that women need to be taught a lesson, they should not wear skirts or short tops at the rank, because they are provoking the men."
Said protester Wendy Morgan: "I have a daughter, and if she had to go through what that girl went through, I would hunt down those who are responsible. We want this abuse to stop right now."
Another elderly woman watching the march (who did not want to be named) said that women should dress more appropriately.
"There is no African culture left these days... Women should not be wearing such short skirts," she said.
A Muslim store owner from Pakistan said he agreed women should not wear short skirts and walk on the street, and that women from his religion were not allowed to do so.
