One of the more egregious crimes that was highlighted in the quarterly crime stats and that is playing itself out most evidently in Cape Town is rape.
In October, November and December of last year, there was an average of 123 rapes in the country every day.
And the experts will tell you that many rapes go unreported, so while the official number is already shocking, the actual figure is almost certainly much higher.
No surprise then that according to Interpol, SA is the rape capital of the world.
And if you follow the news in Cape Town, then it is as clear as daylight that we have a very serious problem on our hands.
It is a criminal, social and moral problem all rolled into one and that will take our collective will to eradicate.
Just in the last few days, we were disgusted by the story of a man who had raped a pregnant goat.
Then there was the story of a Grade 8 girl from Manenberg, who was ambushed by six school boys, dragged to a classroom, raped and filmed.
At the tender age of 14, she is by no means the youngest rape victim this country has seen over the years.
There have been stories of toddlers raped at crèches, children raped by relatives, youngsters raped by their fathers or stepfathers and so much more.
It’s a sickening national crisis and we should all hang our heads in shame. Because we as a society have raised these rapists.
It is therefore our duty to do something about it.
We can’t allow our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters to continue living with this daily terror, on top of everything else that they are having to deal with.
I know that men and boys are victims of rape too.
I am not ignoring my gender, but the vast majority of the victims are women, which is why my focus is on them.
It is a direct threat to the sanctity of their collective being.
We had people protesting against mask mandates, citing bodily integrity as an argument.
Here the bodily integrity of millions of our fellow citizens are being violated and threatened on a daily basis, and the protests are nowhere nearly as vehement.
Yes, the problem starts at home, but we as a society, also need to start raising better men.