Stop persecution of women in headgear and idhuku

IT is surprising that 25 years into our democracy and taking immense pride in being told that South Africa has the most progressive constitution, women are still regularly harassed and persecuted for wearing headgear.

The two most recent incidents reported in the media, one that went viral on social media that involved a Muslim student at OR Tambo airport on her way to Cape Town, and the other a major at the South African Defence Force (SANDF), a forensic pathologist, who was asked to remove her headgear after wearing it for 10 years in service, in the same department.

A debate whether idhuku is appropriate for television or not raged in 2016, when an eNCA reporter’s story was allegedly removed because the reporter wore a doek.