The Family And Marriage Society of South Africa’s (FAMSA) acting director Thelma Masemola said since Covid-19 they have experienced an increase in GBV and domestic violence cases.
“We dealt with more GBV cases at the peak of Covid-19 than at any other time,” she said.
FAMSA East Rand offers confidential relationship counselling, self-help and support groups, community development programmes, family foundation counselling, employee assistance programmes, personal skills training and profession training and has offices in various communities in Ekurhuleni.
It is Masemola’s view that people who lost their jobs and loved ones due to the pandemic may be a contributing factor in the growing number of violence-related cases they are dealing with.
“Many domestic violence cases are the result of family members being frustrated and/or heartbroken because of issues brought on by Covid-19 and find it hard to control their emotions.
“We offer counselling to family members that cannot put their differences aside. Many families are dysfunctional or broken and this often leads to violence.
“Our main aim is to keep families together through intervening in family and marital disputes,” she said.
FAMSA is funded by the Department of Social Development and consistently hosts GBV awareness campaigns to inform communities about their services.
“We also ensure that those who are dealing with trauma, depression and pain can recover. Our counselling extends to perpetrators too,” Masemola concluded.
Any person who needs counselling can go to the FAMSA offices situated at the Boksburg hall or contact the organisation on 011 892 4272.
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