Our battered nation must stand firm against the scourge of gender-based violence

South Africa is a country both bludgeoned and anaemic – caused by inaction as well as callous disregard by those who have been entrusted to protect.

The truth is that womxn and children are at the receiving end of this violence. Gender-based violence (GBV) runs rampant across South Africa, and it affects womxn, children as well as transgendered womxn and gender-fluid individuals.

The war against womxn and communities based on their gender has been raging in South Africa for a very long time, long before the advent of our constitutional democracy. South Africans should be outraged, and now is the moment to consider how we leverage this outrage to drive real change that can restructure, reinvent and compel a society that is able to unshackle itself from violence, abuse, patriarchy and misogyny that is targeted against womxn and children.

We are bludgeoned by the sheer extent of violence waged against womxn across South Africa. Yet, the response has always been anaemic, demonstrated by the inaction and inability of our government to confront the war that is being waged against womxn in our society. The violence meted out against womxn is extensive and pervasive – it is emotional, it is brutal, it is often familial and at close quarters, it is psychological and it is financial.

The gender-based violence and war that is being raged against womxn must be contextualised within a country that remains deeply patriarchal and misogynistic coupled with the slow pace with which our government has responded to the societal realities and complexities.

If we are really going to respond to the war against womxn then we must consider why the existing mandate of government does not compel it to act, why financial and other state resources have not been more targeted, and why our government and protectors have simply paid lip-service.

These are crucial issues to confront, but, more important, these issues must be overcome and driven by South Africans themselves, by organisations wrestling with gender-based violence, religious and faith-based organisations, employers, civic organisations as well as leaders across our country.

There is a requirement for all South Africans to start creating and carving out spaces in which womxn can be heard. Spaces in which we can wrestle with societal challenges, and a dignified and safe space in which we can create an alternative option that can be modelled and replicated in society.

A great amount of effort was made by corporate South Africa in response to State Capture (and the administration of Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma), and now is the moment for corporate South Africa to commit resources and effort to support womxn, particularly in a society that is waging a war and where that violence is not yet countered effectively.

South Africa’s police statistics show a womxn is murdered every three hours in South Africa, and there are more than 40,000 rapes reported every year (noting that these statistics are underreported). This is the context in which the sixth administration (and Parliament) must now act. It has inherited a high-stakes platform of issues and priorities, which has resulted in extensive juggling but no immediate resolution. The sixth administration may have a particular agenda, which was outlined in part by President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa late last week where he broadly outlined our need to “face gender-based violence head-on”, but the efficacy of that commitment is yet to be seen.

We must be reminded that, “Abuse is a deeply personal trauma, which is not easily reduced by the law alone. We will continue to fail those who have been forced to endure this type of abuse for as long as we continue treating abuse as an isolated issue or by pretending that it is somehow confined to a particular set of circumstances. This is not just heart-breaking. The destruction ripples across our communities. Sadly, the abusers often go on to hold positions of authority and despite us remembering Khwezi some of those abusers go on to become president.”

The talk of action has once again resurfaced, and it is an important beginning for South Africa to consider, and to confront the real crisis that is visited upon womxn. Toni Morrison in her address at Harvard reflected on the nature of good where she said, “Evil has a blockbuster audience; Goodness lurks backstage. Evil has vivid speech; Goodness bites its tongue”. Now is the time for freedom-loving South Africans to pick up the baton, to stand against gender-based violence, to speak against this war on womxn, to confront their peers, their idols, their families on all forms of gender-based violence, and to act decisively and bravely.

Now is not the time for us to wring our hands or bite our tongues, now is the time that we demand more from each other if we are to truly bring to an end a culture of violence that for too long has destroyed lives and ripped up opportunity and possibility.

South Africa’s fourth and fifth administrations were not moved too often by outrage, but rather the instalment and deployment of loyal cadres took precedence over commitment for real action or service to the people of this country. Perhaps, the priorities of the fourth and fifth administrations were informed by personal beliefs and disregard for womxn.

The sixth administration has inherited much of this machinery (and in part has even continued to deploy such cadres), and if real action is going to be taken then the reform and new dawn spoken of by Ramaphosa must meaningfully include real measures to confront gender-based violence, misogyny and damaging patriarchal norms that hold many womxn prisoners in their own country. DM