In what appeared to be ridicule of rape victims across Côte d’Ivoire and even the globe, a self-repentant rapist, Traoré Kader appeared on a local show with host, Yves de Mbella to demonstrate how he successfully carried out his heinous actions using a mannequin as his subject.
The debacle tagged the Yves de Mbella scandal was even mocked by some social media influencers further driving the narrative that rape should be trivialized.
The show generated a lot of negative emotion from viewers which led to the ban of the show, a public apology from the channel, and separate fines for both host and guest ($3600 and $900 respectively).
Stigma, blame-shifting and settlements or repression by relatives have been major deterrents for women in Côte d’Ivoire with regard to reporting rape incidents. Coincidentally the crime is now being made a mockery of on national television, leaving many women with PTSD to relive their debilitating experience while it was made into a comedy show for all and sundry.
Rape crimes across the continent have continued to soar in Côte d’Ivoire with as many as over 1000 women reporting rape cases in the first half of this year alone in Abidjan
Although both host and guest tried to alienate themselves from the gravity of their actions, the host was dismissed from the role and in addition to their fines stated above, there are both to face prison time.
Unfortunately, some influencers toed the line of pleading for the culprits on grounds of forgiveness which all but points to the amount of work, Equal Rights movement and NGOs still have to do in order to change the public sentiment surrounding rape crimes.