Dear Fellow South African,

As South Africa and the world observes 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence from 25 November to 10 December, it is a shame that our country has the dubious distinction of having one of the world’s highest levels of violence against women and girls.

According to the National GBV Study 2022 conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), more than 35% of South African women aged 18 and older have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. In the majority of these cases the perpetrator was an intimate partner.

The HSRC study was the first of its kind to provide the baseline data needed to support our efforts to combat gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). It was mandated by the National Strategic Plan (NSP) that emanated from the first Presidential Summit on GBVF we convened in 2018.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I characterised violence against women as a second pandemic. But its impacts are arguably even more corrosive. Gender-based violence destroys families, has an economic cost, causes instability and fear for women and girls, and reproduces inter-generational trauma.

Last month, the government classified gender-based violence and femicide as a national disaster, recognising that dealing with this scourge demands exceptional measures.

This classification strengthens the mandates of the respective government departments, such as Social Development, Justice, Health, Police and Basic Education, to tackle GBVF.

The classification will allow for expanded access to shelters, safe spaces, psycho-social counselling and community-based prevention programmes. It will enable faster emergency resource allocation for survivor services, enhanced monitoring and reporting mechanisms, and strengthen oversight.

All affected organs of state will be required to submit progress reports to the National Disaster Management Centre on the actions they are taking.

Earlier this year, the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development briefed the Multiparty Women’s Caucus in Parliament on the actions being taken to address the GBV crisis.

The noted that the SAPS have stepped up actions against perpetrators and case management is improving. More victim-friendly facilities and services, including specialised GBV desks, have been rolled out at SAPS stations across the country. A GBVF Information Centre has been set up at the SAPS Academy in Pretoria to track incidents.

The SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority continue their joint work to improve the speed and quality of evidence analysis. A 24-hour service for obtaining protection orders has been introduced.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development provided a progress report on the operationalisation of the anti-GBV laws I signed into law in 2022. These included amendments to laws around domestic violence, strengthening the sexual offences register, establishing more sexual offences courts, and improving support services for vulnerable persons.

Even as we have made progress on the NSP, implementation remains uneven. By classifying GBVF a national disaster, we will be able to speed up resource allocation and funding flows to support survivors and improve access to justice. We will be able to support law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to expedite the management and processing of GBVF-related cases.

Prevention is an integral part of the national anti-GBVF effort and far greater effort must be made to include men.

As I said at last week’s Men’s Indaba in the Free State, unless we directly engage men in prevention efforts, we will continue to have marches, hold protests and conduct social media campaigns, but the statistics will not change. Even as men are the main perpetrators of GBVF, they are also part of the solution. This is not a fight to be waged by women alone.

Under the national disaster classification we will be accelerating prevention programmes targeting men and boys. I have called for a concerted, sustained nationwide programme of dialogues with men and boys to engage openly on what is driving this pandemic, and what must be done to arrest it.

We must engage honestly about the toxic masculinity, cultural norms, peer pressure, social dynamics and socialisation that is turning men and boys into abusers of women and children.

A national disaster demands national responsibility.

Whether as communities, civil society, government, faith leaders, business, unions or citizens, we must all play our part in bringing this scourge to an end.

We must be part of dismantling the attitudes that sustain violence against women and children by our own actions. We must report such crimes instead of looking away or regarding it as not our business.

The safety and security of women and children is everybody’s business. Let us continue to work together as all of society to realise a society free from gender-based violence and femicide.

With best regards,