THE UPSURGE OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE @KASIBC_NEWS

THE UPSURGE OF GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE @KASIBC_NEWS 

The ANC Women's League is deeply concerned with the highest rate in which violence is meted out against women, where men both in spousal and non-spousal relationships prey on women like vultures with no regard for human life. South Africa has steadily become a murder site which has been defined by the Gender and Health Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), in its twenty (20) year study, as an extreme form of Gender Based Violence.   

The four (4) surveys of the SAMRC have used the same methodology and definition of femicide over a period of twenty (20) years since 1999, in which they concluded that four women were killed by intimate partners every day, and the trend only decreased to three (3) women in the third survey of 2009.   However, the fourth study which coincided with the first year of COVID19, saw a small but significant increase in the murder of women by intimate partners. 

The SAMRC further made a provincial breakdown of its research with provinces such as the Eastern Cape and Gauteng reporting significant increases. These statistics from credible institutions which are collaborated by the South African Police Service (SAPS) are a shame and an embarrassment to a country that boasts one of the most revered constitutional democracies in the world. Chapter two (2) of our country’s constitution guarantees the right to life as the most basic, the most fundamental and the most supreme right which human beings are entitled to, as an essential pre-requisite to the full enjoyment of all other human rights. It is therefore perturbing to witness such heinous attacks on defenceless women which has now reached pandemic levels, yet we pride ourselves with institutions which are intended to protect the rights of all citizens, particularly the vulnerable. 

The ANC Women’s League has also noted an upsurge in violence against women from non-spousal relationships, where women are lured in social media by unknown men and courted into secluded locations. We thus make a call to women in general to be extra vigilant of going out with people they made acquaintance with online, and to opt for public places when going to private excursions on their first date, with lots of activity and people in case of any eventuality. 

A recent incident of Olorato Mongale from Johannesburg in Gauteng - who went out on a date with a man only known as a “John”, who drove a VW Polo fitted with a cloned number plate found to be belonging to a different vehicle - is an indication of a cruel society that has no regard for human life, especially that of a woman. Olorato’s tragic killing is one of many incidents where women are enticed by men through social media platforms whilst the villain has dubious plans for the victim disguised as a ‘date’. 

The ANC Women’s League would like to caution women to always inform a friend, share location or family member every time they go out on a date, especially their first date with someone they have just met, and make an effort to meet in public places. 

We further plead with our male counterparts for compassion and to have mercy on women, for “every seed of success in a nation, is best planted in a woman”