About 300 Zulu maidens joined ANC women’s league members in a march through the centre of Durban on Thursday ahead of the 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children.
The 10-day campaign, which starts on Saturday, has particular relevance in KwaZulu-Natal, which has consistently recorded the highest numbers of rape and sexual assault in the country.
Deputy chairperson of the ANC women’s league Mbali Frazer called on government to come down hard on perpetrators of GBV by ensuring they do not get bail when apprehended for abuse.
“We are saying this because when they get released they tend to re-offend. The justice system should look into assisting us when the SAPS have done their job. The justice system also has to play its part,” said Frazer.
Similarly, the correctional services should ensure that the offenders do not re-offend once they finish serving their sentences. “Women are unsettled by this trend. We are saying our women should be safe,” said Frazer.
Pietermaritzburg-based NGO Lifeline also believes the justice system needs an overhaul to help stem the spiralling GBV statistics in the province.
Lifeline, this week, said the backlog in finalising DNA for rape accused often leads to unsuccessful prosecution of perpetrators.
The NGO also held a march aimed at highlighting some of the obstacles in the justice sector.
She said their organisation would step up the fight to end the abuse of women in the province, forming part of the march to the national parliament.
“We are of the view that some of the children who are victims, often face a challenge of not being able to recount their ordeals in a proper manner once too much time has lapsed,” said Biyela.
“Health workers have a role to play by reporting all cases of statutory rape. We have girls as young as 10 and 14 who fall pregnant and yet those men who impregnate them are let off scot-free. They are not arrested because of the doctor-patient confidentiality,” said Biyela.
Naledi Kuali, People Against Women Abuse (Powa) legal manager and acting executive director, said as the world celebrates 25 years of activism, it was important to reflect on the vision and purpose of the campaign in light of spiralling GBV figures.
“It is important to have public showings of solidarity, commitment and of prioritising gender-based violence as something to be eradicated around the country.
“A lot of the time the first thing we do, is have marches, protests, but there are tangible things that can be done by government, political parties and those who are resourced and have the necessary mechanisms to assist.”
One of these, she says, is to redirect funding.
“While it is important to have marches, politically to show where you stand on GBV, we need to move more to a capacity building phase, to a phase where we are creating mechanisms that translate into actionable items. We do sometimes worry that we hold these protests, but there are no actionable items.”
Kuali said the different prevalence rates of violence could be attributed to the cultural and religious norms of an area.
“What we have observed in KZN, where there is a melting pot of cultures, but the similarities are in the expectations that are present for women under religious and cultural norms.
“So you find in KZN, a religious system that reinforces a problematic cultural system and a sexist, cultural system that reinforces a problematic religious system,” she said.
She said higher concentrations of GBV speak to the inability of women who feel they have a right to their body, and this results in crimes such as rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence.
“You find that is a direct result of the attitudes of a lot of perpetrators have towards women’s bodies. You will find in areas where there is a huge dominance of culture and religion, and the focus there speaks to sexist or patriarchal views, you will find an increased level of violence.”
Inanda, north of Durban, which has been regarded as the rape capital of the country, has a high migrant population with many people from the Eastern Cape.
Sexual assault boils down to the perpetrator, and there are so many factors contributing to that, including societal norms perpetuating patriarchal structure, substance abuse, personal beliefs and so on.
— Kavya Swaminathan, Tears Foundation intervention specialist
“You will find that this will create is a hotspot for GBV because of a high rate of sexual violence from Lusikisiki, for example, where they commit crimes where they are working, where they are stationed. So those cases become KZN cases even though the perpetrator is from another province. KZN has an elevated rate and it needs to be addressed.”
One way to address this is for women to be sensitised to their right to the mechanisms that address GBV through advocacy, workshops and campaigns.
The second is to engage the group, most likely to commit GBV, and that is men.
“We need to move into a space where our advocacy gears men to be actors and proponents of change in GBV. Men have the capacity to enter rooms where most women are excluded — they are privy to conversations and to things said and not said in the presence of women.”
She said it was vital to get men to account for the role they can play to combat GBV as “patriarchy has confirmed, men listen to other men”.
Kuali said it was also important to create policies within the legal framework for magistrates to hand down harsher, custodial sentences. Where magistrates are capacitated to use the law to the fullest extent to ensure the perpetrators are put behind bars.
She said an “open and clear legal literacy” programme is vital to ensure not only state actors, but survivors have a clear understanding of what to expect when a person needs a protection order or when a case of domestic violence is brought before court.
“We would like the NGO sector to come together and create an accounting body that can look into whether policies are being implemented correctly.”
Kavya Swaminathan, an intervention specialist from the Tears Foundation, said: “Rape and sexual assault are under-reported crimes. We always treat any statistic with a grain of salt.
“It is possible these figures stem from people in the province just reporting at a higher rate than those in other provinces. I think it is also important to note that the difference between the top two provinces is close, this means at any point Gauteng could have the highest reported incidents.
However, she said isolating the issue to a specific province can be myopic.
“Sexual assault boils down to the perpetrator, and there are so many factors contributing to that, including societal norms perpetuating patriarchal structure, substance abuse, personal beliefs and so on,” she said.
Swaminathan said, while there was a political will to eradicate GBV, “their efforts most times comes across as performative”.
“Politics tends to focus on legislative change and large-scale funding initiatives. This does not translate on the ground, and often leaves people needing and wanting more support. GBV is also considered a ‘hot’ topic which can be used to sway people when it comes to an electoral year. The bottom line is there is constant talk about addressing sexual assault and GBV but with little tangible follow-through.
“There is a need for more resources and open dialogue. To address these issues we need to be able to openly speak about them. Men and women. People still feel uncomfortable engaging with these topics and this results in the perpetuation of outdated beliefs. People don’t know when they are being taken advantage of, and when they come to terms with what is happening, they have no idea where to turn to for help,” said Swaminathan.
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