SA has anti-GBV policies — what it lacks is delivery, says CSVR - TimesLIVE

The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) is calling for changes in the implementation of anti-gender-violence policies, to become more effective in real-life situations.

The latest murders in the Kempton Park and Olifantsfontein areas of Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, form part of a disturbing pattern of violence against women in South Africa, the CSVR said.

“They were daughters, mothers, sisters and colleagues. Our thoughts are with their families and with communities across Gauteng who are living with understandable fear. We look at policy and law to protect us, but the scourge of GBV and femicide haunts us daily,” the centre said.

“South Africa and the region are not short on laws or strategies for gender-based violence. What’s missing is the ordinary, funded, day-to-day follow-through that would let a woman get home safely, or be found quickly if she goes missing, instead of turning up weeks later as an unidentified body a forensics unit is trying to put a name to.”

None of what’s happening in Ekurhuleni is happening in a vacuum. It’s happening inside a system that already struggles to follow through even once a case is opened

The CSVR said its research, published in July in a report titled “Justice Denied, Silence Maintained”, backs up this statement.

The report — based on community dialogues in Diepsloot, Alexandra, Tembisa, Orange Farm and Soweto — found that women who do come forward after violence are often met with poor case handling by the institutions meant to help them.

One national study of nearly 4,000 rape cases found prosecutors declined to proceed with 31% of them, and only 9% ended in a conviction. A separate Amnesty International survey found 81% of survivors were never told how their case was progressing.

“None of what’s happening in Ekurhuleni is happening in a vacuum. It’s happening inside a system that already struggles to follow through even once a case is opened,” the CSVR said.

It proposed more government financing targeted at prevention. This would include funding for shelters and community-based support services.