Women’s Legal Centre fights for the right to name accused rapists before plea

FIGHTING for the right to name a rape accused before they plead in court, the Women’s Legal Centre (WLC) has launched a digitally-led national civil disobedience campaign called “Nxme Him”. 

This campaign supports the current case before the Western Cape High Court where WLC is challenging the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act which prevents rape survivors, witnesses, supporters, or journalists from naming an accused rapist before he has entered a plea in court. 

This constitutional challenge follows criminal charges laid against lifelong gender and community activist, Caroline Peters. While supporting a rape victim at court, Peters, who is represented by the WLC, publicly identified a man accused of rape by posting his name on social media after he appeared in the Wynberg Court on a charge of rape. The accused had not yet pleaded to the sexual offence charge. The accused thereafter laid criminal charges against Peters for contravening section 154(2)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Act which criminalises the publication of this information before the accused has pleaded either guilty or not guilty.

Currently, breaching this law can result in prosecution, fines, or imprisonment of up to three years. 

The matter involving Peters is set to be heard in March next year.

Peters said: “I am very excited that we eventually have a date, we are going to be able to change the law. This was filed about four years ago. It was 2021 when this all started happening. Right now he can only be named once he has pleaded. Plea and trial happens right towards the end, then there’s postponement, after postponement, it can take years. Not even the victim can name her perpetrator. For me, what are we saying, we don’t believe her? And often when a man (has committed rape) and is caught out, often it’s not the first time. Once we are able to name him, we are almost sure that other victims will come forward.”

The WLC explained that most South Africans have no idea this law exists, “yet its impact is devastating, the law silences victims at the precise moment they most need to speak”. 

“This law applies specifically to sexual offences. South Africans, including the media, are free to name accused murderers or armed robbers publicly, even before they plead, yet accused rapists are protected by anonymity for months or often years due to court delays. The result is a system that disproportionately harms women and girls, obstructs investigations, and silences survivor,” the WLC said. 

The “Nxme Him” campaign is a symbolic civil disobedience campaign powered by the world’s first Civil Disobedience AI that converts the typed name of an accused rapist into a unique, uncrackable emoji code. This allows women to symbolically name accused rapists in a way that avoids prosecution, the organisation said. They have also launched a petition, urging government to take action. 

HOW IT WORKS: 

1. Visit NxmeHim.com 
2. Enter the name of the accused rapist 
3. The AI instantly encodes the name into an emoji sequence 
4. The encoded name is posted publicly via WLC channels and can be shared safely Emojis have always carried hidden meaning.

Cape Times