South Africa has a very bad reputation with the world’s highest rate of violence against women. More than 100 cases of rape are reported every day, while according to official data, an average of a woman is killed every three hours. President Cyril Ramaphosa regularly dubs the targets of violence against women as the “second pandemic” after COVID-19.
“Nathalie”, a resident of Nisaa center is a survivor of gender-based violence
It took “Nathalie” ten years to escape her abusive husband. But not before her husband broke the rib of the resident of the Nisaa center with an iron rod.
Now, the survivor of gender-based violence lives in a shelter for women victims of abuse in Johannesburg. Nathalie, 48, urged other victims of domestic violence to speak up, sooner than she did.
“Every woman has a limit of patience, must be brave to say no. Seek help as much as possible, from the very beginning while still alive and still breathing,” he said.
South Africa is one of the countries with the highest rates of violence against women in the world. More than 100 cases of rape every day are reported. Every hour on average a woman is killed, according to official figures. This figure has increased during lockdown related to COVID-19. Many women are then trapped in the house with the perpetrators of violence.
President Cyril Ramaphosa compared the violence to a ‘second pandemic’ in a nationally broadcast speech in January 2022.
“As a man, husband and father of daughters, I am appalled by cases similar to the wars being waged against women and children in our country.”
South Africa only has 100 shelters to protect women. Some of them received very small government funds.
Often, victims are blamed for speaking out, says Sima Diai, program manager for the Nisaa center for women’s shelters in Johannesburg.
“They often say, “You are in 20 years living together and not saying or doing anything. Why change it now?” But people don’t understand what’s going on behind closed doors,” Sima said.
In other parts of the African country in the last two years more and more women have come knocking on the doors of the shelter in Cape Town. “Jacqueline” a 29-year-old resident of the St. Anne shelter who survived the violence described.
“Before I left the house, a man took me to the beach in a car and said: ‘Look, this is where I’m going to spend your life, this is where it is. No one will leave me, and no one will find you here. That’s why I chose this place’. For me, taking him to court is pointless because in two weeks or a few months he will be free.”
Joy Lange, manager of the St. Anne in Cape Town, said police were often unable to help.
“Many women are still complaining about the treatment they are being treated and the South African police are not responding. In my opinion, it is also related to the patriarchal culture that is still deeply rooted in our country. It needs to be taken seriously,” he said.
In September parliament passed three bills to tighten laws on gender-based violence. Some activists say it does not address the root causes of violence against women.
A number of South African men are often raised without their fathers. Perpetrators of violence are often survivors of childhood violence themselves. [mg/lt]