Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) meaning for people on the ground – a message from the TAC National Chairperson
The President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa hosted the second Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) starting yesterday under the theme “Accountability, Acceleration and Amplification NOW!”. The 2022 Summit seeks to respond to the resolutions of the first summit that was held 4 years ago.
As the president hosts the second presidential summit on Gender-Based Violence (GBV), let’s reflect and ask ourselves what these themes mean to an ordinary women in the community? What is the meaning of accountability, acceleration, and amplification?
What does this mean to me as a woman and activist who is facing GBVF realities on a daily basis in my community? When I refer to the word “accountability” to me it means the system that will respond to the issues of women. It means the justice system that will make sure that all cases of GBVF will be thoroughly investigated, women who have protection orders against those who are abusing them are protected, not just a paper that doesn’t mean anything. It means that women should be free from any type of violence it can be systemic, labour-related issues, including in the space of civil society.
I still believe that here in South Africa we are just using the word accountability loosely without really thinking of its meaning. I say this because we often use it but actions are not talking to it since the 2018 GBVF summit. The perfect example is “the resolutions from that summit included that a “national, the multisectoral coordinating body must be established within six months of the signing of the summit declaration”, with the body to be championed by the President, resourced adequately, governed by a suitable statutory framework, inclusive in its representation, and transparent in the manner it appointed representatives. The idea was that better coordination would mean a more effective response to Gender-based violence(GBV) prevention and survivor support”. Four years later those commitments are yet to be met. Today we are starting another summit without any of this resolution being implemented or at least started and working on progress.
Since the 2018 summit, we need to look back at how GBVF cases have gone up and what has been done to make things better on the ground. Disturbingly, GBV cases have only gone up. Looking at recent stats, it is not surprising that murders of women and children have escalated. The SAPS reported that more than eight hundred women were murdered in the country between April and June 2022, with more than eleven thousand women badly assaulted and 243 children murdered. I have personally advocated for victims of GBV who are involved in our organisation the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). We have also called out ill-treatment that is directed at women, especially in the public healthcare space. It is also disheartening to us as civil society, and to women in general to observe that none of the recommendations that were indicated since the 2018 Summit have not been implemented.
On the eve of the summit, the Commission for Gender Equality’s spokesperson, Javu Baloyi, while speaking to the SABC said they expect concrete resolutions from the summit that will put more perpetrators of GBV behind bars.
We are also hopeful that the Summit will also create an enabling environment for all civil society organisations that work within this space. It is understood that GBV is a profound and widespread problem in South Africa, impacting on almost every aspect of life. GBV is systemic and deeply entrenched in institutions, cultures, and traditions in South Africa.
Obstetric violence is particularly acute. Yet there is no accountability from the Department of Health. While Stats SA recently reported a decline in maternal mortality, 88 deaths per 100 000 is still 88 too many, because most maternal deaths are preventable. We hear cases of people giving birth on the floor. Others being wrongly operated on and left to suffer ongoing pain. Yet no-one is taking responsibility for any wrongdoing that happened. What pains me more is that these cases are not being reported, and only a few people are talking about or neither trying to address this kind of violence. This happened in Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital in Ekurhuleni. On 17 October, Zonwabo* (not her real name) had labour pains and so she went to J Dumane Clinic and was kept there the whole day. Later she was told by the nurse that she had to be referred to Thelle Mogoerane Hospital because of her previous health history.
She had to sit on the bench until she screamed very hard. Only then did they take her to another room and give her pain medication. Soon after that, she found herself in a delivery room with a doctor who helped her to give birth. She was discharged. On 20 October, she went back to the hospital for a 3-day check-up and she was given antibiotics for the wound in her vagina. Since the wound was open she was always in pain, and was scared to relieve herself in case it further opened the wound. On 31 October she went to the hospital again. The stitches were removed but the wound was still open. She was told that they couldn’t stitch her up again. The sister in charge was called and she acknowledged that she has been damaged but there was nothing they could do about it.
The second word of the theme is “acceleration”. What does it mean to me, with everything that has been said and with all the resolutions taken in the 2018 Summit? A multisectoral approach to fight or respond to GBVF is seriously urgent. Acceleration means that cases of GBVF should not just be a lip service issue but they need urgent working systems and responses on the ground that address these kinds of issues.
A second example of a GBV case that is still ongoing, that we have been supporting since June this year.
Lolo* (not her real name) is a woman living with HIV. She is originally from KZN, and she has been dating someone for about 6 years. When the relationship started she thought that the person understood her situation, and she trusted him with her private information.
The abuse started after they had a son and lived together. The man abused her physically and broke her arm. He repeatedly raped her and beat her up while she was pregnant. Worse, she experienced two miscarriages due to physical abuse. While she was going through that she was forced to request the man to leave her house. She thought that would ease the abuse, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Instead, the abuse continued. The boyfriend took their 5-year-old son as if he wanted the son to visit him, but did not return him. When asking for her son she was made to sleep with the man and never got her son back.
The woman opened an assault case against her boyfriend. As the investigation continues she realised that actually has been raped, and she thought that no-one would believe her since she was living with her boyfriend. She had to approach the children’s court to open a case to get custody of her child.
She was forced to leave her own house and be taken to a safe house. There she felt violated again because she was not allowed or supported to go to court, or to sustain herself financially. This also put a strain on her. She didn’t know where to turn, and left confused.
A solution is needed. Zonwabo’s case is evidence or proof of a larger set of problems that are faced by women and also needs more acceleration in fighting any form of GBVF. Therefore, this shows that we don’t just need acceleration from one department but we need the President to make sure that all departments are held accountable to respond to issues of GBVF.
Amplification NOW! This means that all cases of GBVF will be dealt with the sense of urgency, irrespective of the form of gender and when the violation is coming from
These acts of abuse and mistreatment include psychological abuse in the form of neglect, and verbal assault; and discrimination and stigma on the basis of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, class or HIV status. Physical abuse includes assault (e.g. slapping, dragging, applying pressure to the abdomen during labour, and isolating women in active labour as a form of punishment.) Invasive medical procedures (such as vaginal and cervical examinations, C-sections, episiotomies, and hysterectomies) when performed without informed consent or knowledge, are also considered obstetric violence. Any form of violence committed against women while they are accessing reproductive health care healthcare should be considered a serious violation of women’s human rights.
We are looking forward to the resolution of this year, and are also hopeful that we will not have to wait for another four years to think that the government is ready to hear our cry more especially, with the president having recently admitted that the scourge of GBV is another pandemic.
Sibongile Tshabalala, TAC National Chairperson
