Tears Foundation’s new data reveals alarming GBV stats

The precise statistics of incidences of gender-based violence (GBV) are a positive step towards improving data and helping inform efforts aimed at developing better responsive and appropriate interventions, resources and policies. 

This is according to Mara Glennie, founder of the Tears Foundation, who on Tuesday released a report revealing precise statistics of locations and profiles of GBV incidences in partnership with the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

The foundation published data such as GBV distress calls made to its help-at-your fingertips helpline. 

The helpline is a USSD service that sends information via a cellphone using simple prompt-based technology.

One helpline option provides callers with the details for three GBV services nearest to the location they identify when following the text prompts. Tears has developed an extensive database of more than 2,500 free GBV services in the country.

Another option for users who feel they are in danger is to follow prompts to direct an agent to call them immediately. The agent will then identify what emergency services they need and dispatch an ambulance or police services as required. The agent will stay on the line with the user until help arrives.

The foundation said the research provided insight into the different districts in South Africa in terms of the prevalence of violence and highlighted in which districts interventions are most needed. 

Glennie said the precise statistics exposed where to target resources and what kind of support was required, while also serving an important monitoring and evaluation function to determine the efficacy of interventions. 

The research report covers a four years from January 2020 to December 2023, focusing primarily on time series analysis, location of calls, frequency of calls from the same number and prevalence of calls during certain times of the year such as school and public holidays. 

While the findings are based on 53,004 calls received over the four years, the number excludes calls that were not completed and calls by those who wished to remain anonymous and could not be captured for the sake of pure accuracy. 

The emergency option, which was introduced in 2021, recorded 1,961 calls made in the first year, 2,219 in 2022 and 3,636 in 2023. 

The research showed Limpopo had the highest call rate at 104 calls per 100,000 people (or 6,804 calls over the four years), followed by North West with a call rate of 103 calls per 100,000 people (3,934 calls). The Free State, Mpumalanga and Gauteng complete the top five, with call rates of 99, 97 and 93 respectively (2,920, 4,701 and 14,072 calls). The findings include that the largest number of calls were received on Sundays (8,541), followed by Tuesdays (8,524) and Mondays (8,332). 

“Our findings come at a perfect time, considering President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Bill, which will play a critical part in helping coordinate and provide strategic leadership to the efforts,” Glennie said.

She said South Africa will only combat GBVF through strengthened work on prevention and response, which will only work through a multi-sectoral approach with promotion of gender equality at its core. 

Prof Corné Davis, associate professor at the department of strategic communication in the faculty of humanities at UJ, said the imbalance of power relationships in families and communities were partly the root cause of GBV, and while GBV affected both men and women, it tended to target women specifically for a variety of reasons and had a disproportionate impact on them. 

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