GBV: Women suffer in silence as SA government pays lip service to the terror

Amanda Mazibuko, 24, of KwaZulu-Natal was allegedly stabbed and killed by her jilted boyfriend in the presence of police, days before the launch of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.

The police, in KwaMbonambi, called to protect her, seemingly watched as the man brutally attacked her with a knife. This in a country where 855 women were killed and 9 516 were raped between April and June.

It is this staggering level of terror against women that activists lament. It also leads to them questioning the campaigns against gender-based violence (GBV) and wondering if South Africa is simply paying lip-service to the scourge.

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The 16 days campaign is observed internationally between 25 November to 10 December. It was launched by activists at the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991.

South Africa adopted the campaign in 1998 as one of the intervention strategies towards a violence-free environment for women and children.

Lip service

But according to advocacy groups, the activism has failed to protect women. Results indicate that policies and programmes aimed at protecting women were simply reserved for podiums and never implemented.

This despite an entire portfolio of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities mandated with regulating the socio-economic transformation and driving women empowerment.

Established in 2014, the department’s budget increased from R763.5 million in the 2021/22 financial year to R987.2 million in 2022/23. Despite this, only R5 million was allocated for the coordination of the National Strategic Plan on gender-based violence and femicide.

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In September the department announced its intention to table the National Council on Gender Based Violence Bill in parliament.

The Bill seeks to establish a multi-sectoral, independent and non-partisan statutory body responsible for providing strategic leadership on the elimination of gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa.

Suffering in silence

Corruption, maladministration and a government of self-serving politicians and bureaucrats ignorant of women’s suffering have been blamed for the lack of implementation of these grand policies.

According to advocacy group AbafaziPhambili (Women First), the figures of violence against women did not reflect the true reflection of the scourge in SA, due to the culture of silence.

Founder Mantoa Selepe said they were dealing with unreported cases of gender-based violence, where women were dying of strokes and that some were languishing in mental institutions due to the abuse they suffered.

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“This kind of silent violence, never reach the police. At times, GBV cases went unreported owing to the fact that the perpetrator is a breadwinner and therefore, women fear losing meals,” she said.

Selepe said government organised futile summits pretending to care but that this was only done for the media cameras and to tick boxes.

“Till today, all those GBVF summits have not yielded [results], just noise. [We] knocked at every governmental door yearning for the support. To our shock, some ministers, through their spokespersons, told AbafaziPhambili that they do not get involved in ‘personal individual campaigns,’” she said.

Talk shops

Mara Glennie, founder and CEO of TEARS Foundation, said the 16 days of activism campaign was too brief for South Africa considering the state of women’s rights, empowerment, protection and the effectiveness of related policies.

She said the country has reached a state of “gender fatigue”, but that the recent crime statistics were sobering and demonstrated that this was no time for complacency.

“On the contrary, complacency in tackling gender concerns is reinforcing appalling human rights abuses in South Africa,” Glennie said.

She agreed that summits and forums have taken place to address gender-based violence but that all this talk is not backed by the human and financial resources needed to translate into tangible change.

“Looking beyond the appalling physical and emotional costs to the girls and women caught up in violence, there can be enormous economic costs for society. Recent studies have attempted to outline the cost of violence against girls and women in monetary and development terms,” she added.

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Not in My Name activist, Themba Masango, said the programmes and policies discussed in boardrooms need to be taken to the ground.

He said campaigns such as 16 days of activism were good but that until there was action, the war against GBV will never be won.

“SA continues to be a country with the highest femicide rate, which is five times higher than anywhere in the world. We continue to be the rape capital of the world,” Masango said.

He said the focus should be at perpetrators and potential perpetrators, saying this is the reason why awareness campaigners should be focused on the male child to break the cycle of abuse.

The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities is yet to respond to questions on its positive strides in realising the goals of this campaign since South Africa first took part.

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