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01 November 2022 | Story Dr Claire Stephanie Westman | Photo Robyn Davie
Dr Claire Westman
Dr Claire Stephanie Westman, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Free State Centre for Human Rights
Opinion article by Dr Claire Stephanie Westman, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Free State Centre for Human Rights, University of the Free State.
The upcoming 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children is an annual international campaign, running from 25 November until 10 December, which aims to reinforce the call for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls (VAWG). The South African Government explains that “the 16 Days Campaign forms the centre point of government’s comprehensive 365 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children”, and forms part of a so-called emergency response to the scourge of gender-based violence in South Africa.

However, despite these calls to end gender-based and sexual violence, it is clear that violence against women and girls continues unabated, not only in South Africa, but worldwide. Focusing on the South African context, between October and December of 2021, 11 315 people, primarily women and girls, were raped. This amounts to more than 11 000 reported cases of rape within a period of only three months (SAPS). However, according to the Rape Survivor’s Justice Campaign, approximately only 7,7% of sexual offences are reported, thus putting the actual number of sexual offence cases at an estimated 645 580 per year. In addition, there are on average 2 763 murders of women in South Africa a year, which is approximately 7 women per day. This places South Africa in the top five countries in the world regarding femicide. 

Understanding gender-based violence

While such violence may seem to be simply one manifestation of other ‘forms’ of violence, it is necessary to understand that gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence, is used as a means of social control. It is used to control the movement and behaviour of women, as well as to uphold patriarchal and heteronormative norms and ideologies. This social control is especially ‘effective’ in a country like South Africa, where GBV and sexual violence occur at alarming rates and where such violence is often enacted very publicly and graphically (as seen particularly in cases of lesbo-phobic rape). The extremely violent and public nature of many rapes serves to not only violate and harm the individual victims/survivors of rape, but also serves to remind all women that they are vulnerable to such violence. Rape, as such, becomes a very effective means through which to ‘keep women in check’ and often leads to them changing their behaviour or movements so as to avoid such violence. As Pumla Gqola explains, the constant threat of violence reminds women that “they are not safe and that their bodies are not entirely theirs”. As such, it can be understood that GBV and sexual violence are, in a way, systematically and strategically used to uphold dominant forms of power and perpetuate ideologies related to sex and gender. 

Of course, this is not a problem isolated to the South African context. According to the United Nations, “VAWG remains the most widespread and pervasive human rights violation, worldwide affecting more than an estimated one in three women, a figure that has remained largely unchanged over the past decade. The most recent global estimates showed that, on average, a woman or girl is killed by someone in her own family every 11 minutes.”

What is clear, is that we cannot rely on ineffective and often-patriarchal justice systems in order to address GBV or to protect women and girls from the scourge. Consequently, the theme for this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign is ‘UNITE! Activism to end violence against women and girls.’ Related to this theme is the United Nations Secretary-General’s UNiTE by 2030 to End Violence against Women campaign (UNiTE campaign). This multi-year campaign ‘calls for global actions to increase awareness, galvanise advocacy efforts, and share knowledge and innovations.’ While legal frameworks, effective justice systems, and serious government responses to VAWG are incredibly necessary, it is also vital that the ideologies that create the conditions in which VAWG flourishes and is often even condoned, must be addressed. For this, awareness, education, accountability, and activism are necessary.

Support and advocacy

In South Africa, there are many organisations, including POWA, Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust, and the TEARS Foundation (among many others) that work tirelessly to provide support and advocacy to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. For example, Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust reports that between March 2021 and March 2022, “9 650 survivors and their supporters received direct services from Rape Crisis. This support was provided across our helplines, in-person counselling, court support, social work sessions, community workshops and the three Thuthuzela Care Centres in which we work.” Such support and advocacy work are not only vital in helping survivors access post-violence medical and mental health support, but also in filing police reports, accessing courts, and receiving support throughout legal proceedings. Furthermore, such organisations provide education that helps to address toxic gender ideologies and debunk myths around rape and sexual violence.

However, we should not solely rely on organisations to do this work. We all need to be aware of our own actions and words and the ways in which they might contribute to a culture in which VAWG is acceptable; call out the behaviour and actions of others; assist those organisations providing support and advocacy in whatever way we can; and hold the government accountable for developing and implementing plans and procedures for addressing violence against women and girls in South Africa. 

Perhaps, however, it is also time that we take to the streets – as we are seeing in Iran – to demand better conditions for women, girls, and other marginalised communities in South Africa. We need to UNITE to create a country in which women and girls have a future that is free from the ever-present threat of violence. We need to demand an effective justice system that holds (primarily) men accountable for their actions. We need to make it clear that we will no longer allow the complacency and lack of urgency shown by the government in addressing VAWG. We need to UNITE in demanding a country that is safe for women and girls!

News Archive

Legal elite tackle thorny issue of corruption
2013-01-24

 

Our Faculty of Law brought together top experts and judges for a Symposium on Corruption, to investigate one of the most pressing concerns of South Africans.
Photo: Stephen Collett
24 January 2013



   YouTube Video

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng yesterday (24 January 2013) concluded the proceedings of the first day of the International Symposium on Corruption, hosted by the Faculty of Law of the University of the Free State (UFS). In his address Justice Mogoeng made no excuses as to the magnitude of the threat corruption presents to South African citizens.

“Urgent action and efficient measures are called for to arrest this scourge, for the sake of our constitutional democracy,” he warned. “Our vibrant constitutional democracy will not and cannot survive in the face of rampant corruption.”

Justice Mogoeng said the spate of civil and labour unrest erupting throughout the country can be attributed to corruption. According to him the scope and far-reaching implications of corruption drives South Africans to “boiling point” and evokes “anger, frustration and a don’t-care-attitude that often manifests in widespread protest actions” and disrespect for the rule of law.

“South Africans, irrespective of race or creed, must identify and focus on their common enemies and find a conciliatory and unifying way of dealing with what divides them, including the lingering prejudices of the past,” Justice Mogoeng urged.

Despite the threat corruption poses, he stressed that all South Africans have a role to play in the fight against corruption and that there are different role players that can become involved in the process. Especially important is the media and faith-based agencies which, according to Justice Mogoeng, can regenerate morals and secure a “national moral code.” The State must further ensure enforcement of anti-corruption measures and preside over the selection of individuals of “solid character” to reside in agencies meant to fight corruption.

He highlighted the need for an unbiased and independent judiciary, one immune to outside influences controlled by powerful forces, as well as personal agendas.

Although Justice Mogoeng believes that the private sector is most guilty of transgressions based on corruption, he stated that a “well-coordinated war” against it must be waged in all sectors in order to stamp it out.

Justice Mogoeng presided over the unveiling of the redesigned foyer of the CR Swart Building and praised the Faculty of Law for its innovation with regard to the symposium.

“I look forward with great optimism to more well-organised symposiums that strike at the nerve-centre of the well-being of our constitutional democracy,” he concluded.

Symposium seeks answers and solutions

The Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) concluded its International Symposium on Corruption on Friday 25 January 2013. The event featured a stellar cast of speakers, including the Chief Justice of South Africa, three current Supreme Court of Appeal judges, high-court judges, advocates, prosecutors, journalists, as well as local and international legal academics.

Throughout the two-day symposium, corruption was dissected as a severe problem in the South African socio-economic landscape and solutions were sought to alleviate the pressing concern.

The main attractions of the symposium were undoubtedly the attendance and presentations delivered by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, as well as Prof. Leon Wessels. Prof. Wessels was described as “one of the founding fathers of the constitution of South Africa” by Judge Fritz Brand, a current Appeal Court judge and the third-longest serving judge in the country.

“Corruption is stealing the constitutional dream of this country. Corrupt leaders are fearless, those who expose corruption, are fearful,” Prof. Wessels warned.

Judge Brand closely trails the second longest serving judge in the country in former Kovsie, as well as former UFS Council Chairman, Judge Faan Hancke. Both judges addressed the symposium and chaired sessions, along with Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law, and Judge Ian van der Merwe, Chairman of the UFS Council.

It was, however, not all doom and gloom, as several of the speakers offered tangible ideas in what was often termed the “war on corruption”. Celebrated Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika who has been arrested following the police leasing scandal which he exposed, urged South Africans to stand together in their fight against corruption, before it is too late.

People on the front lines in the day to day fight against corruption also spoke at the symposium, giving the audience a better understanding of the intricacies and challenges involved in the process. The Head of the National Prosecuting Authority’s Asset Forfeiture Unit, Mr Willie Hofmeyer, as well as Advocate Xolisile Khanyile, who is the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Free State, elucidated this struggle.

The symposium also hosted Prof. Chizu Makajima, a celebrated academic from the United Kingdom.

The two-day symposium ended in style as the delegates gathered in the Centenary Hall on the Bloemfontein Campus for lunch, with a further address by Prof. Leon Wessels


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