Opinion: Is 16 Days of Activism enough?

Khabonina Masango, a resident of Daveyton in Benoni who holds a master’s degree in urban studies sustainability, shared her views on 16 Days of Activism.

She said such a campaign is not enough when women and girls experience 365 days of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa.

GBV refers to the harmful acts directed at an individual based on their gender and vulnerability within society.

“GBV is a widespread problem in South Africa, affecting almost every aspect of life. It is deeply entrenched in our diverse cultures, institutions, households and traditions in South Africa caused by gender power struggles, unequal distribution of socio-economic opportunities and substance abuse,” said Masango.

“There are many forms of violence that are gendered in nature that can be sexual, physical, emotional, financial and structural.

Masango said SA is regarded by SA’s Interpol as the rape capital of the world.

“The SAPS reported on November 19 that 9 556 women were raped between July and September 2021, which is a 7.1% increase compared to the same period in 2020.

“Furthermore, 72 762 cases were opened of common assault related to GBV in the same period respectively, and over 50% of these sexual and common assaults occurred intimately within the home of the victim or the home of the assaulter.

“Although the crime statistics demonstrate SA is an extremely violent country, the number does not grasp the gruesome acts of GBV in our society, as the number of unreported cases of women and girls who are victims of GBV is far greater due to them being silenced and the lack of confidence in SA’s justice system.”

She said GBV is rooted in patriarchy and misogynistic principles in a society where the culture of violence and male superiority is treated as a norm.

“The belief in male superiority has harshly manifested in our communities in that men feel they are entitled to have sex with any women they choose at any given time and can violently enforce gender roles on women and girls associated with the masculinity of controlling women.

“Patriarchy and misogyny interact with other factors, such as SA’s low levels of women empowerment and lack of social support within their families, who may choose to silence them or ridicule them by blaming them for the act to have happened to them.

“GBV is a profound human rights violation and leads to psychological, behavioural and physical consequences for survivors, such as dissociative identity disorder and prolonged bleeding in the affected areas.”

Masango said in many parts of SA, specifically in the rural and informal communities, there is poor access to formal medical and psychosocial support.

“This means survivors cannot access help for their assault when they need it.

“Violence also has significant economic consequences. The high rate of GBV places a burden on health and criminal justice systems, as many survivors resort to substance abuse or become unable to work or move freely in society.”

She pointed out that SA has three amendment bills under revision, such as Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007, to fill the gaps that allow perpetrators to evade justice and to ensure the rights of women and girls are upheld and always protected.

“Budget allocations to the justice system increases annually, but there is still not enough of an associated decrease in GBV.

“Combating GBV requires no more legislative revisions and increased budget allocations, but the surety that the resources are sufficiently allocated to eradicating the rising incidents of GBV.

“The justice system needs to ensure GBV victims can easily access justice, through police stations adequately responding to victims. This can be established through properly gathering evidence, ensuring survivors obtain psychological and medical treatment and finding them suitable accommodation if needed.

“Since SA is a very angry society, healing the nation of this inter-generational and repeated behaviour of violence will break the cycle of abuse of the side of the perpetrators because, ultimately, healing the perpetrators will create lesser victims.

“To achieve this, GBV activism needs to be a yearly programme that starts by addressing childhood abuse and trauma in society, as its been reported by the Safer Spaces Organisation that over 50% of men who admitted to committing a violent act against women and girls were themselves subjected to abuse and trauma.”

She said there also needs to be much more attention allocated to dealing with mental health issues affecting men as the perpetrators of GBV, such as substance abuse, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Thus, 16 Days of Activism does not even scratch the surface in dealing with issues that perpetuate GBV; therefore, an intensified long-term programme that deals with the drivers of GBV needs to be created to ultimately solve GBV in SA.”

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