“Unfortunately, post the colonial and apartheid eras, no rehabilitation measures were taken to recover and restore both the attitude and the minds of people. The psycho-social state of the people still suffers the effects of violent acts to this day and as such, they have normalised violence…”
People live in fear and feel unsafe as frequent violent acts and random killings take a toll. South Africa is ranked amongst the most violent countries in the world incurring far-reaching effects on its entire population. It is imperative, therefore, to trace the sources of violence to understand the current state and the need to make inferences to these past violations for the future state of South Africa to be free therefrom. South Africa is a country that has, largely, been exposed to violence in different forms at different stages of its timeline. The common occurrence of GBV in South Africa is, predominantly, due to the formal systems of social inequality, racism, and patriarchy that ruled the colonial and apartheid periods and whose legacies continue today (Burris and Ottawa 2022). GBV occurs because of normative role expectations and unequal power relationships between genders in a society (Safer Spaces). The power imbalance and the intention to humiliate and subordinate characterizes the elements of gender-based violence. The same elements formed the fundamental basis of the colonial and apartheid eras in South Africa. It is mainly during these eras that violent behaviour was entrenched and normalized to enforce authority. Violence became a common factor for both the perpetrators and the victims. Unfortunately, post the colonial and apartheid eras, no rehabilitation measures were taken to recover and restore both the attitudes and the minds of people. The psycho-social state of the people still suffers the effects of violent acts to this day and, as such, they have normalized violence as though it is an unavoidable part of their lives. Historically women suffered from exclusion and had no voice to participate in the public space. They occupied a secondary position in society, secluded in the private space of the home. The power dynamics in the private space have relegated women’s voices to a subordinate position, which may presumably be identified as the normalization of pain in contemporary discourse.
This silencing of women’s experiences ensures that women’s suffering and harassment are kept to themselves as a private matter. While this attitude in women may be an indication of a psychological deficit that needs to be addressed, it also elucidates why a considerable number of GBV cases remain unreported. Research has proven beyond a doubt that GBV affects women and girls more than it affects their male counterparts. Besides, evidence of femicide cases that range from rape, kidnapping, serial killings, and intimate partner violence to suicide cases, amongst others, indicate the prevalence of GBV. The general message that these experiences of violence inflict on women is fear and hegemony. It is a demonstration of men’s power and women’s subordination so that authority remains a man’s sphere of influence. Our history of violence bears testimony to the violence that is directed at women today. It evokes what Smith (2005) refers to as astonishing depths of alienation and anger that women experienced in their encounters with oppression, rape, harassment, sexism, violence, and others. There is thus a compelling need to explicitly uncover the past events in the context of South Africa and find out how it correlates with the current state of violence. The uprooting process should partly involve the acknowledgement and acceptance of women in the public domain and the realisation that in the process of hurting others, men became victims who are also in need of rehabilitation programs when we envisage a country that is free of violence. Unveiling the past can be of benefit to the intervention strategies that aim to address the scourge of GBV that is escalating at an alarming rate in South Africa. Focusing mainly on helping victims and neglecting the dire need to cure the perpetrators bears worse implications for the state of South Africa’s fight against the GBV pandemic.
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June 2023 | Collective Action Magazine
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