A rose for every 115 women raped daily in SA

TODAY, on National Women's Day, 115 red roses will appear across Cape Town, not as symbols of romance, but as silent protests against the violence that women endure.

- TRACY-LYNN RUITERS

The installation is the work of artist RA Searll, in collaboration with other artists and the organisation Women for Change SA, in a protest action named “The Truth Beneath the Roses”.

Each rose represents one of the 115 women who report rape in South Africa every day. But the real number is far higher, only one in nine rapes are reported, meaning as many as 1,000 women may be raped daily.

These roses will not be placed in galleries or on manicured lawns. They will bloom in places heavy with unspoken histories: post offices, bus stations, police stations, and court buildings. Places where women were assaulted, where help was denied, where silence was policy.

“Rape isn’t a glitch in the system,” the campaign declares. “It is the system.”