South Africa’s women continue to live under the shadow of gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide at levels likened to war zones, despite government promises and community interventions aimed at tackling the crisis.

According to the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), 51% of women in the country have experienced GBV, while 76% of men admit to perpetrating violence against women.

The country holds the third-highest rape statistics globally, after Botswana and Lesotho.

“South Africa remains a society profoundly marked by violence and continues to grapple with the enduring effects of decades of institutionalised racism, sexism, exclusion, structural violence, and other factors that have persistently undermined human development and positive social cohesion,” said a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) report.

For many women, these statistics are not numbers but a lived reality.

One survivor, Lelona Nziwani, shared her ordeal on Facebook after being brutally attacked by her ex-boyfriend, Phumlani Songxishe.

“He grabbed me forcefully and told me that he would never break up with me, and that I would stay in a relationship with him no matter what he does with anyone else, or else he would kill me,” she wrote.

“He beat me with a golf stick, hit me with a hammer and a spade handle, and also with the frame of a mirror from his room. I apologised even though I had done nothing wrong.”

Her story echoes thousands of others.

The HSRC’s baseline survey revealed that 33.1% of all women aged 18 and older have experienced physical violence in their lifetime, translating to an estimated 7.3 million women.

Women with disabilities face even higher risks.

Dr Ingrid van der Heijden, a research consultant in inclusive sexual and reproductive health, explained:

“Women with disabilities are one of the poorest populations in the world. The risk of lifetime GBV for women with disabilities increases with the severity of their disability.”

Research shows that 29.3% of women with disabilities experienced lifetime physical abuse, compared to 21.7% of those without disabilities.

Rates of sexual violence are nearly double, with 14.6% of disabled women affected compared to 7.2% of non-disabled women.

Van der Heijden emphasised the cycle of violence.

“Poverty, disability and GBV are directional and cyclic. Poverty increases the risk of GBV, and exposure to GBV leads to poor health, which exacerbates the disability.”

The CSVR found that most victims do not trust the criminal justice system. Survivors often face secondary victimisation at police stations, corruption that leads to missing dockets, and lengthy backlogs in Legal Aid.

“Our work in communities revealed bottlenecks in access to justice and the fight against impunity on GBV,” the researchers said.

Community dialogues held in Gauteng revealed widespread frustration: lack of feedback on cases, limited knowledge of procedures, and ongoing harassment.

South Africa has established 63 Thuthuzela Care Centres (TCCs) to assist survivors of sexual violence by providing integrated medical, psychosocial, legal and law enforcement services.

The National Prosecuting Authority reported a 78% conviction rate in sex crimes reported directly through TCCs, with 221 life sentences handed down in the last financial year.

But for many, justice remains elusive. Survivors must still navigate intimidation, bureaucratic red tape, and cultural stigma.

The World Health Organization estimates that 12.1 women in every 100 000 are killed by an intimate partner in South Africa each year, a figure five times worse than the global average of 2.6.

Intimate partner violence affects one in five women nationally, rising to one in three in poorer households.

Mental health consequences are severe. Communities report that stigma around mental health prevents survivors from seeking support.

Many still attribute trauma to “witchcraft” or “a lack of spiritual faith,” pushing women to seek unqualified help instead of professional services.

Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi admitted that “the stories of women getting killed by their partners have become so prevalent on social media, we no longer get shocked or outraged, we just read and move on.”

“This is not acceptable, and we should not accept as a society. Remaining silent is not an option. We all have a responsibility to speak out, to report it wherever it rears its ugly head,” She added.

Kubayi confirmed that the Department is expanding sexual offences courts, upgrading 100 district courts to handle domestic violence cases, and planning to publish Africa’s first Femicide Watch to track GBV-related killings.

“Survivors of GBV desire not only to see, but feel that justice was done,” she said.

“Our country adopted the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan, which now guides all efforts to fight GBV and femicide in our country.”

Despite frameworks and programmes, the gap between policy and lived reality remains wide. The CSVR stresses that without addressing social and cultural norms, including patriarchal practices, toxic masculinities, and childhood trauma, GBV will remain entrenched.

 “The solution to gender-based violence lies in the whole of society approach in which all stakeholders play a role in building better communities, healthy and safe households. We believe that working together as a society we can defeat the scourge of gender-based violence,” Kubayi

For now, South African women continue to navigate daily life in a country where violence is not only widespread but expected, a state of emergency hidden in plain sight.

IOL News

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