12 November 2024

Despite the numerous interventions undertaken in the past 30 years of our democracy, intended to tackle the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide, there are persistent factors which continue to undermine these interventions and hinder meaningful and sustainable progress, such as patriarchal systems, which reinforce male domination and subjugates women across different communities and socioeconomic contexts. In this regard, patriarchy has been able to inform social norms and values, that have shaped attitudes and practices which place women in vulnerable positions including forced control over the lives of women, their bodies and choices.

In understanding the contributing factors to our contemporary society and the challenges encountered, there’s a proverb that states “The roots of a tree cast shadows, even when the branches are far away”. This proverb reminds us that South African society, despite 30 years of democracy, the outbreaks of violence in our society are a manifestation of our historical context which remains deeply entrenched in the structural and systematic architectural design of the apartheid regime. In this regard, our continued battle against the war on women and children is not isolated from our historical colonial and apartheid roots. Contemporary South Africa is still grappling with the legacies of the migrant labour system for instance, which fragmented family units by forcing men to leave their families to work in the mines in distant cities, thus weakening family bonds, and community cohesion. We are still battling through the legacies of many black families by design, being plunged into overcrowded communities, into poverty, and racial and gender disparities in accessing education, health care and economic opportunities, all of which are contributing factors to an environment which perpetuates gender-based violence.

Furthermore, our society still has a long way to go in debunking myths about the nature and profile of perpetrators and victims. Our educational and awareness programs must bring us closer to appreciating and responding to the complex range, of backgrounds, relationships and power dynamics in which violence occurs. In this regard, perpetrators can be family members, romantic partners, work colleagues, friends, church leaders, strangers or people who occupy prominent positions in society. In addition, all victims are legitimate regardless of their socioeconomic background or what they were wearing. We must continue to foster spaces where victims and survivors are believed and supported, with the necessary required support made available. We must create an environment where victims and survivors are empowered, and where we challenge stigma, and victim blaming and encourage a culture of reporting and breaking the silence. This also requires that we strengthen policing and the legal system to be more accessible, responsive and sensitive to the victims and survivors.

The ANC-led government is committed to continuing to address the intersectional root causes fueling violence against women and children, developing legislation and social programs intended to uproot these structural, systematic and historical inequities towards the realisation of a truly free and just society, where its citizens can enjoy our country’s hard-fought for liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights and Constitution of our republic. It must be our collective mission and responsibility to ensure that we take action in our spaces, whether at school, work, church or community, and that we create safe and victim-free environments.