Gender Based Violence in SA: 4 Women Share Harrowing Experiences of Assaults and Re Victimisation By Cops
South African women are frustrated with the current state of gender-based violence in South Africa. Briefly News spoke to four women who shared their experiences and hope for South Africa.
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Gender-based violence gets thrown into the spotlight every single year. It usually takes high-profile cases that create outrage in what has been called a pandemic by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The deaths of women like Reeva Steenkamp in 2014, Karabo Mokoena in 2017, Zolile Khumalo in 2018, Uyinene Mrwetyana in 2019, Tshegofatso Pule in 2020 and Nosicelo Mtebani in 2021 were all talked about in mainstream media and had South Africans think about the prevalence of crimes against women.
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These women are only a fraction of women who have suffered at the hands of men in South Africa. In 2022, we have seen more cases being brought into the spotlight and the conversations around reintroducing the death penalty have been at the forefront as result.
Some of the recent notable cases of GBV include the deaths of Hillary Gardee, the daughter of veteran EFF politician Godrich Gardee, six-year-old Bontle Mashiyane and 38-year-old Namhla Mtwa, who was brutally murdered in her driveway, less than two months ago.
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After a while, the stories of women who have been killed by either their partners or random men get lost in the news cycle but for many women living in South Africa, these kinds of stories are their reality.
How South African women feel about the state of gender-based violence in the country
In exclusive interviews with Briefly News, four women shared how they feel about the state of gender-based violence. Their shocking responses highlighted how unsafe they feel in their own country.
Lerato Shabangu**, 24, said unfortunately she does not feel safe in South Africa because rape and GBV-related murder statistics keep rising.
She also noted that there is an alarming increase in human trafficking cases in South Africa and many women are still not found because the police rarely solve these cases. Shabangu added she's frightened about the state of GBV:
"It's horrifying and it just so happens that I'm becoming desensitised to it all, it's almost like an expectation."
Andrea Le Goabe, 25, also shared the same sentiments and also believes that men are victims of GBV too.
"I feel unsafe, appalled, and will probably never have kids because of it, I’ve also heard events of men robbing and beating up vulnerable men, which I consider to be GBV too. Abuse and violence have no gender."
Andrea went on to say she simply feels unsafe because she is a woman. Andrea added that on a night out, she's always ready to fight for her life.
"I don’t trust SA men especially, considering our high rates of sexual harassment and assault, the catcalling, the aggressive slap on the ass by strangers and the complex notion that because there was alcohol, I implied that I wanted it."
How South African women feel about the government's response to GBV
When it comes to the government's response and treatment of GBV in the country, women think the government needs to change and implement stricter laws, however, some say they have no faith in the current government.
Asanda Shabiso**, 30, said:
"I have zero faith in the president or the entirety of government. In 2018, we organised the Total Shutdown and handed the president a list of demands and none of them were met. This just speaks to how nonchalant men in this country are about violence that mostly affects women."
Kedibone Mothupi**, 28, stated that a lot needs to change and the South African government needs to introduce a Special Victims Unit to deal with GBV. She further added that the police need to be more involved. These sentiments were also shared by Lerato, who said:
"At this point, it just feels like words are being said to calm the masses but no action is being taken. Announcing it [GBV] as a pandemic but not making any actual policies to deal with it is counterintuitive," added Lerato.
South African have little faith in the police when it comes to GBV
The four women who spoke to Briefly News also spoke about how they were previously victims of GBV and how they reacted to their assaults.
Lerato said when she was assaulted she never reported that incident to the police because she did not believe the case would go anywhere. She felt that reporting the matter would do more harm to herself than the perpetrators.
"As it stands, reporting it [GBV] is not worth it as police rarely ever take the victims seriously."
Andrea explained that she does not trust the police or the justice system and has had terrible experiences with the police when she tried to report her assaults.
"I know too many women just like me. I was born into it and have reported two incidents. The SAPS in Silverton, Pretoria were very unhelpful on the phone and told me to call the police," she said.
Andrea elaborated that there were times the police did not take her seriously when she tried to report her assaults
Asanda stated she has been a victim of GBV more than once. She reported her assault after the first time it happened and was re-victimised by the police. Asanda added that the police only seemingly take action when a woman is dead.
"It happened another time and I did not because of how police revictimised me and laughed at me and also because my safety was never a priority for them," she said.
Kedibone says she was almost raped by a fellow student while in her room at her on-campus residence. The matter was reported to the university and the individual was found guilty.
While Kedibone was able to secure a conviction for one of her assaults, she says that had the assaults taken place off-campus, she would have not reported the matter to the police.
"If my incidences happened off-campus, I don't think I would have reported it to the police because I know that when you to the police you basically get re-harrassed and they laugh at you. It's just a mess. It is just useless," she added.
What is gender-based violence?
The United Nations Council for Human Rights defines gender-based violence as harmful acts that are directed at a specific gender on the basis of their gender. The UNCHR says these kinds of acts are usually rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power and harmful societal norms.
The World Bank estimates that one in three women around the globe will become victims of gender-based violence. It is also estimated that 7% of women have been sexually assaulted globally.
Crimes against women and children do not only impact the victims and their families, the World Bank says countries' economies also suffer when there is a high prevalence of GBV.
Violence against women is estimated to cost some countries up to 3.7% of their GDP, which is more than double what most governments spend on education. The World Bank adds that failure to address GBV could have a long-term financial impact.
What are the gender-based violence statistics in South Africa?
The 2022 first-quarter crime statistics were presented to the Portfolio Committee on Police in Parliament on Friday, 3 June. The stats showed that between January and March 13 000 cases of rape were reported to the police.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) also revealed that in just three months, 898 women in South Africa were murdered, 1 222 cases of attempted murders against women were reported and 15 034 women were assaulted with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.
Murders against women increased by 17,5%, attempted murders by 32,1% and assault with grievous bodily harm by 19,1%. SAPS also noted that the sexual assaults against women increased by 13.7%.
12 314 women reported cases of common assault while only 1 640 men reported cases of common assault in the last three months.
** Names have been changed
Brave guys stands up to GBV after hearing neighbour attack his partner
Briefly News previously reported that a young man recently shared with Facebook's ImStaying how he managed to stop an abusive man from doing further harm to his girlfriend by going over to their apartment and threatening the man who was hitting his woman.
"Imagine it's 3:10 AM and the guy upstairs who has a flat ontop of mine is beating the he'll out of his girlfriend. They are so loud and the noise is so ridiculous, the crying, floor banging and banging of the bed and stuff breaking woke me up.
"I put on my track-pants and went and knocked on their door. I was hurt not only by gender based violence but also by the fact that they woke me from my sleep."
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Source: Briefly News
