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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

Pansalb’s Language Rights Monitor Project launched at the UFS
2007-01-25

 

 Attending the launch of the Language Rights Monitoring Project were, from the left: Mr Edward Sambo (acting head of Pansalb), Prof Engela Pretorius (Vice-Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities at the UFS), Prof Theo du Plessis (Director: Unit for Language Management at the UFS) and Mr Vusi Ntlakana (head of the Free State provincial office of Pansalb).

 
 Pansalb’s Language Rights Monitor Project launched at the UFS
 
The Unit for Language Management at the University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with the Pan-South African Language Board (Pansalb), today launched the Language Rights Monitor Project on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein.
 
In accordance with the Pansalb Act of 1995, Pansalb is responsible for the promotion and protection of language rights in South Africa, and is the chief funder of the project.          
 
The Language Rights Monitor Project was initiated in 2002 for a trial period of three years, with the aim of reporting to Pansalb, on an annual basis, on language-rights issues in South Africa, as reflected mainly in the printed media.
 
Since then, three reports have already appeared, covering various aspects relating to language rights, including, inter alia, language-rights complaints, language-rights issues, language litigation, as well as research on language rights in South Africa. Profs Johan Lubbe and Theo du Plessis, as well as Dr Elbie Truter, all associated to the UFS, were responsible for the compilation of the first three reports.
 
During 2006, Pansalb decided to establish the project for an unspecified period of time at the Unit for Language Management at the UFS. It is precisely for this reason that the project is being launched. The South African Language Rights Monitor will henceforth appear annually as a prestige publication of Pansalb, compiled by staff associated with the Unit.
 
However, Pansalb has also decided to further consolidate the project, as a result of the need for a more immediate report, as well as the need to include records drawn from newspapers published in the African languages. It was therefore decided that, as from September 2006, a monthly South African Language Rights Bulletin would also be launched. 
 
Such a bulletin would provide an overview, on a monthly basis, of developments in South Africa concerning language rights, and would enable Pansalb to become more actively involved in crisis situations in which mediation is urgently needed. Two monthly bulletins have already appeared, and were favourably received by Pansalb. During the launch of the project, this bulletin was also introduced to the public for the first time.
 
With the official launch of Pansalb’s Language Rights Monitor project in the Free State, emphasis will be placed on the leading role played by this province, and more specifically by the UFS, in the development and implementation of a multilingual policy.
 
In future, more information on the situation regarding language-rights issues in South Africa will be made available from Bloemfontein, for the benefit of South Africa’s language-rights watchdog, Pansalb, but also for the benefit of other institutions involved in language-rights issues.
 
A constructive contribution will thus be rendered to the cultivation of language justice, an important element of the democratisation process in South Africa.
 
Issued by:
Prof Theo du Plessis
Unit for Language Management, UFS
 
 
Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
24 January 2007

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