Close to 200,000 women in South Africa were victims of intimate partner violence over a four-year period. This is according to shocking figures released by the police ministry in response to a parliamentary question.
In a written reply to EFF MP Asanda Matshobeni, the ministry revealed 198,176 women were targeted in domestic violence incidents between April 1 2020 and March 31 2024.
The breakdown of perpetrators paints a grim picture as:
- 114,722 women were targeted by their boyfriends;
- 1,970 by their child’s father or “baby daddy”;
- 46,013 by ex-boyfriends, ex-fiancés or former partners;
- 2,724 by ex-husbands or former life partners;
- 671 by fiancés; and
- 32,076 by husbands or life partners.
“Gender-based violence (GBV) is not defined in the law as a crime, hence the police service uses crime committed in a domestic relationship as a proxy to respond to GBV inquiries,” the police ministry said in the written response.
The ministry said the statistics were compiled from crimes reported to police where a relationship could be established between victim and perpetrator. Figures for the 2024/2025 financial year are not yet available and have not been released by the police minister, it added
On questions about demographic details, the ministry said race is not a compulsory variable when opening a case, which is why the figures are excluded from crime statistics reports.
The data also reveals the provincial distribution of intimate partner violence cases over the four years:
- Eastern Cape: 16,472;
- Free State: 16,546;
- Gauteng: 63,613;
- KwaZulu-Natal: 25,560;
- Limpopo: 8,494;
- Mpumalanga: 8,794;
- North West: 10,732;
- Northern Cape: 4,177; and
- Western Cape: 43,788.
In total, the ministry confirmed that 198,176 women were victimised by intimate partners in domestic violence incidents during the period.
TimesLIVE
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