Once again, the 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence was observed in South Africa. It officially began on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and ends on December 10, Human Rights Day. We need to constantly remind ourselves that while women may constitute more than 50% of our population, they continue to suffer indignities and violence perpetrated by men.
This assertion is supported by the GBV prevalence and victimisation study, which was conducted by the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) and released last month.
The report established that more than 30% of South African women are victims of physical violence. In other words, more than 7-million women are abused. With the publication of these findings, one now has the empirical basis of the widespread violence that is meted out against women. We no longer must guess about the prevalence of violence against women, we can no longer express surprise or shock at how women are treated in our society, and we can no longer be quiet about this pandemic.
We have known the problems for a long time and the findings have ascertained what women have known all their lives. No more excuses about why we cannot act. It is long past time for action.
The South African state must be seized with these findings and act robustly to ensure that they find expressions in the lived reality of the survivors and victims of GBV. These findings should be implemented now, not tomorrow, not next week. They must inform the conduct of public officials at the national, provincial and municipal levels and be institutionalised.
While South Africa's femicide rate is among the highest in the world, it has also witnessed a decline in the number of convictions of alleged perpetrators during the four years that the study covered. This demonstrates that justice for victims and survivors alike has been elusive or denied, thereby contributing to a culture of impunity.
During these 16 days of activism on GBV those of us who worked in various organisations have been reminded of how incredibly frustrating and debilitating it is to navigate the South African magistrate court system that continues to ignore that violence is the ultimate denial of equality and that the law transmits powerful messages about women and men. We need a courts system that moves towards a context in which it assists in addressing the substantive rights of women, the right to dignity, to justice and to equality.
It is absurd that we have courts not sitting due to power or water non-availability, thus compromising the recordings of the proceedings. It is absurd to have clerks of courts doing favours for perpetrators of domestic violence, and preying on the ignorance of many women victims’ understanding of the law, court processes and procedures. It is absurd to expect a woman who is violated and battered to continuously present herself in court due to endless postponements and deliberate delays meant to get the victim to eventually lose interest in the matter, and for the perpetrator to gloat on social media that he was not found guilty. It is absurd to trust a justice system that humiliates, ridicules and abuses survivors of GBV, that sees the construction of women’s words and memories as untrustworthy. This deep, pervasive and enduring prejudice is experienced by women in our courts.
Let’s turn this absurdity into empathy and heightened levels of consciousness on how to end the normalisation, tolerance and minimisation of the harms inflicted on women and girls.
Brenda Madumise is the director of Wise4Afrika
For opinion and analysis consideration, email Opinions@timeslive.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.