Women are considered to be one of the most discounted and defenseless groups within South Africa, despite the fact that they constitute the majority of the population.
One of the largest contributing factors to the historical disadvantage of women seems to be gender-based violence.
When examining the status of violence against women, an alarming contradiction comes to light. On the one hand, violence against women is strikingly high and according to statistics is increasing as the years pass.
On the other hand, the South African Constitutional and legislative framework attempts to address violence against women in a highly conducive manner.
An array of legal developments occurred in the past few years in an attempt to combat violence against women and improve their position within the South African society. However, despite these highly conducive measures, violence against women continues to escalate exponentially.
The most common form of violence against women is known as domestic violence. The Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 recognises that domestic violence is a grave problem within South Africa and aims to provide supreme protection against domestic violence.
Domestic violence can take various forms, such as physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, intimidation, harassment and many more. If you are being abused, you have the right to lay a criminal charge at your nearest police station and apply for a protection order at the Magistrate’s Court.
A protection order can be defined as an order which is issued by the court, at your special request, which orders another person to immediately stop their abusive behaviour towards you.
A protection order can be obtained by firstly gathering sufficient information and documentation. Make sure that you keep detailed notes and pictures of any and all abusive incidents and ensure that you are able to adequately identify your abuser and any witnesses.
Secondly, seek the assistance of the South African Police Service. They are entitled to arrest a suspected abuser, without a warrant, if he or she reasonably believes that an act of violence occurred.
Thirdly, apply for an interim protection order at a District Court in the area in which you permanently reside, carry on business or are employed. This application will be made by way of an affidavit and will be granted by the magistrate if he or she believes there is proof of domestic violence on face value. Lastly, the court will make the interim protection order a final order, if it is convinced that on a balance of probabilities the complainant was indeed subjected to domestic violence.
In the event that the abuser breaches the protection order, he or she will be guilty of an offence and will be susceptible to a fine and/or imprisonment not exceeding five years.
However, despite these protective measures, the sad reality is that with violence against women, every step forward seems to be followed by a few steps backwards.
The fight against violence against women will be a continuous one and our main priority should be to ensure the constitutional and legislative frameworks are effectively implemented to yield practical benefits.
Article by Melissa Ward, candidate attorney at Malherbe, Rigg & Ranwell Inc Attorneys.
Should you, or anyone you know, be victims of domestic violence, you are welcome to contact MRR on info@mrr.co.za or 011 918 4116 for assistance in this regard.
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