Every year, from November 25, the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is held.
This international campaign challenges violence against women and girls. It runs from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to December 10, which is Human Rights Day.
This worldwide campaign attempts to oppose violence against women and children, by raising awareness of the negative impact violence and abuse have on women and children.
And every year, during this time, it is stressed the success of this campaign rests on the community’s daily individual and collective actions to safeguard our society against this cycle of abuse.
Now, there are many reasons for such abuse. Partly, it stems from a perception that women enjoy a low status in the home and in society. It also happens when men abuse power and positions of authority in order to control women and children.
Abuse can take many different forms of behaviour such as inflicting fear, bodily harm or causing someone to do things against their will.
So, why are we talking about abuse? You might also be wondering surely we can talk about the petrol price, or load shedding or continuing bad governance.
It has come to light the rape of South African women is among the highest in the world. This is according to a Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) report released.
Yes South Africa, hang your heads in utter shame (especially if you consider how corruption has also raped the country). We might be great at sports, but when it comes to more important ‘commodities’ of values and morality, South Africa is a disgrace.
According to the 2016-17 Victims of Crime report, a total of 250 out of every 100 000 women were victims of a sexual offence, compared to 120 out of every 100 000 men.
Granted, not only women but men are abused.
So South Africa, hang your head in shame. Crawl under a rock, for our morals in this country is far worse than our attempts at service delivery.
The Parliament has done its part by passing laws to protect the rights of individuals against abuse, including The Domestic Violence Act of 1998, The Children’s Act of 2005 and The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters Act) Amendment Act of 2007.
Yes, this will not help unless South Africans take a long hard look at their own lives and our disgraceful actions.
Stats SA also noted that the murder rate for women increased drastically, by 117 per cent between 2015 and 2016/17.
The number of women who experienced sexual offences also jumped from 31 665 in 2015-16 to 70 813 in 2016-17 – an increase of 53 per cent.
It was also found that one in 40 SA women believe it is acceptable for men to beat them. At least 2.6 per cent of white women and 2.5 per cent of black women believed men may physically assault women.
All of this makes for shocking reading. Has it then become somehow entrenched in our culture and in our minds that woman can be treated like dirt and be beaten just because she has not submitted to every command?
At the end of the day, nothing justifies a rape of a woman. Nothing justifies domestic violence. Nothing justifies a man beating a woman, nevermind a child.
We can lay the blame at the door of many excuses, such as the media’s portrayal of women, culture or that the devil in the bottle made you do it, but the ongoing abuse of woman speaks of cowardice, a lack of morality and a serious deficiency in character.
South Africa at this stage has no reason to pat itself on the back, with so many people suffering. It remains a country where the tears and cries of the suffering woman, and our children, continue hauntingly into the night.
It is the duty of all to break the cycle of violence, to break the silence, to know your rights, to act against abuse and not to look away.
Until we turn the tide, we shall hang our heads.
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