After the State of the Nation Address on 9 February ended in yet another violent circus,the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) released an official statement.
The CSVR has warned that the normalisation of violence in Parliament will have long-term repercussions for South Africans trying to break the cycle of violence in the country. The CSVR was responding to the disruptions that occurred during the State of the Nation Address, when members of the EFF were ejected from the House.
“When violence becomes the norm as a way to resolve our problems, it eats into the social foundations of our society. This normalisation of violence is a concern. Even if new actors are sworn into power, using violence as a way to deal with issues will remain,” said CSVR Executive Director, Nomfundo Mogapi.
“If this is how parliamentarians deal with differences, what message does it send to ordinary people if those in leadership react with violence against those who disagree with them?” she asked.
“The gender aspects of the violence are also highly concerning,” stated Nonhlanhla Sibanda-Moyo, CSVR’s gender specialist. Sibanda-Moyo said that female parliamentarians were manhandled by men in a way that bordered on harassment. “We need to understand that gender-based violence is an enormous problem in South Africa,” she said.
She said further that leaders need to set an example for the rest of the country. The use of violent force against women should not be accepted in either public or private spaces and leaders and people in authority should be held accountable for this violence.
CSVR research has found that South Africans are already dealing with the long-term emotional and
psychological trauma from the impact of violence. This excludes the physical and financial costs, with their broader impact on society, that reinforce existing social divisions.
The CSVR has conducted research on the levels of violence in South Africa since 2007. They found that violence had become the norm in South Africa for a variety of reasons, including the limited effectiveness of the criminal justice system to deal with such challenges.
Additionally, the CSVR has repeatedly found that the use of violence in collective spaces attests to people not feeling heard. It is clear that the use of violence in public events such as the Sona is a means for the public to raise concerns and frustrations that they are not given the opportunity to raise in normal circumstances.
The lesson to be learned from the disruption of the Sona address remains that the people of South Africa need the opportunity to feel heard and have their frustrations dealt with in an ongoing and clear manner.
“Our political leadership has an opportunity to lead in breaking the cycle of violence in South Africa. How they deal with resulting crises will sent a clear message to the rest of the country on the kind of society we want to be,” Mogapi concluded.
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