South Africa has a long history of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), ranking among the highest in the world with 12,211 reported rapes being committed between 1 October and 31 December 2023, according to police recorded crime statistics.
In a landmark move on 24 May 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill into law which represents a significant step forward to tackle this national crisis.
The GBVF Bill establishes the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide which, as a statutory body, will provide strategic leadership in preventing and responding to GBVF.
Mpiwa Mangwiro-Tsanga, Policy and Advocacy Manager of the NGO Sonke Gender Justice, said:
“Realistically speaking, this bill was long overdue. It creates the body that should provide oversight and hold institutions accountable to eradicate GBVF. Many times the initiatives to address gender-based violence have been sporadic and not co-ordinated. There is still the issue of the implementation. The good news is not quite immediate, this is just a stepping stone, a necessary and important one. It enables the council to be established”.
Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director, Shenilla Mohamed, noted that the bill is a “positive step towards ensuring the effective roll out of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-based Violence and Femicide which was adopted in 2020. A review of the first year since the adoption of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide showed that 55% of targets had not been met. The National Council on GBVF is intended to provide oversight and ensure its implementation”.
These objectives are not new since, back in 1998, South Africa became one of the first countries in the world to officially adopt the annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign, four years after the country’s transition to democracy. From initially focusing on raising awareness, the 16 Days campaign has evolved into community dialogues, educational workshops and marches with active public sector and civil society involvement. However, more than two decades later, statistics related to GBVF remain alarming.
A 2004 study by the South Africa Medical Research Council found that in South Africa one woman is murdered by her intimate partner every six hours. The study also revealed that one in five women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or former partner.
However, the campaigns do appear to be having some effect on shifting societal perceptions, with Stats SA’s Governance, Public Safety, and Justice Survey noting that in 2020/2021 about 4.1% of the population believed that it was justifiable for a man or husband to hit or beat his woman or wife if she had sex with another man or woman compared to 5.6% the year before. About 2.5% said that it was justifiable for a man or husband to hit or beat his woman or wife if she neglected the children, compared to 3.3% the year before.
Additionally, data shows that there is an overall acceptance by people aged 16 and above who agree that all kinds of violence against women and children must be reported (99.0%), and they would call police if they witnessed incidents of domestic violence at a neighbour’s or friend’s place (93.0%). Almost two-thirds would mobilise a community to intervene if they witnessed incidents of domestic violence at a neighbour’s or friend’s place (67.5%) and they would personally intervene if they witnessed incidents of domestic violence at a neighbour’s or friend’s place (64.9%).
See also: Women in South Africa face twin crises of violence and financial exclusion
Although this is encouraging data, organizations on the ground remain concerned and highlight that the successful implementation of the GBVF Bill will require certain challenges to be addressed.
“In the criminal justice system, challenges also include secondary and re-victimisation of survivors, and personnel who are not trained to handle issues of GBV and that reinforces the trauma. There are delays in the justice system, it takes so long for cases to be heard, many cases are thrown out because of poor investigation, missing information and so forth so there is a lot that needs to be dealt with for us to get to the point to say we are dealing with GBV effectively,” Mangwiro-Tsanga explained.
Mohamed added, “Now that the bill has become an Act, Amnesty International South Africa is urging the government to ensure that it is timeously, transparently and effectively implemented. It must also ensure adequate resources for the implementation of the National Strategic Plan, without this the law for the National Council and the strategic plan will have no real impact.”
Despite the challenges, the GBVF Bill represents a significant opportunity for South Africa to “strengthen the national effort to eradicate violence against women and children” as noted by Ramaphosa during its signing.
