EDITORIAL | Laws are meaningless if GBV funerals continue to rise

Yet another Women’s Month has passed where South Africa rolls out the red carpet to host events, campaign and march in the name of gender-based violence (GBV).

Publicly we dial up the outrage at the incidents of femicide and lament another rape, and while this is important, with the advent of Spring on September 1, we shift focus to other matters.

This attention deficit is our collective contribution to the GBV crisis in our country.

On Monday, minister for women, youth and persons with disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, summed this up succinctly when she called on the media to scrutinise government programmes rather than focusing only on announcements.

She urged the media to “follow the money” by examining how much of the country’s R1.5-trillion procurement pipeline reaches women-owned businesses, follow gender-based violence cases from the police station through to conviction, and report on whether government commitments translate into actual delivery.

Her comment that “an announcement makes a headline and delivery makes a life” speaks to the inequalities and the demands contained in the 1954 Women’s Charter which have remained relevant seven decades later, particularly those relating to equal pay, ownership of property, childcare, economic opportunity and protection from violence.

We have the laws. We now have the council. What we do not yet have is a fall in the number of funerals.

—  Sindisiwe Chikunga, minister for women, youth and persons with disabilities

She proposed establishing a standing partnership between her department, the National Press Club, the Unisa School of Business and Leadership and research institutions to meet quarterly, examine data and publicly assess whether commitments made during Women’s Month were still being implemented.

While her comments strike a chord, delivered on the eve of elections they have to be met with a level of political scepticism. She is correct, however, when she describes violence against women as “our deepest failure”.

Chikunga announced a new National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, following its inaugural meeting, stating that it will coordinate efforts between government, civil society, business and other sectors to strengthen efforts to contain the scourge and monitor the implementation of the National Strategic Plan on GBVF and support survivors.

Her message was clear — the council is a voice for the nation and it must ensure that laws and government commitments result in tangible protection for women and girls, while survivors receive the support they need and perpetrators are held accountable.

Citing the most recent national femicide study by the South African Medical Research Council, she said three women were killed by an intimate partner every day and that South Africa’s intimate-partner femicide rate was five times the global rate.

“We have the laws. We now have the council. What we do not yet have is a fall in the number of funerals,” she said.

As a nation, we are quick to jump on trending GBV incidents after it has happened, but we lack the stamina to consistently hold government accountable for their role in fostering a gender-responsive economy or justice chain.

One of those swimming upstream in the tidal wave of violence against women is KwaZulu-Natal mother Jessica Naidoo, whose daughter Sasha Lee Shah was gunned down mercilessly in the parking lot of a shopping centre in October 2022 by her ex-boyfriend, against whom she had a protection order.

But the head of the domestic violence unit at the Phoenix police station failed to remove the man’s gun in accordance with the protection order, resulting in the tragedy. Naidoo, however, is determined to hold the captain — who was given a two-month suspension and moved out of the unit — accountable.

She has asked police to review the internal disciplinary sanction but given their response to media ― “everybody has the right to express their views and seek justice. It is her constitutional right to take any actions if she feels hard done by” ― the cop will not face further censure for the blood on their hands.

Naidoo has now gone to the Madlanga commission for it to investigate her daughter’s death — as well as two other murders investigated at the Phoenix police station — which was named at the commission earlier this month to determine whether they disclose common or systemic failures requiring further investigation.

She is also proposing a new law named after her daughter to address significant gaps within the current legal and operational framework, particularly the absence of clear and effective accountability mechanisms where members of the police fail to enforce court-ordered firearm removals or comply with their statutory obligations under domestic violence legislation.

Her continued fight for justice in the past four years is admirable and, while motivated by her personal tragic experience, holds a blueprint for the mindset we should be adopting as a society and applying to those in power.

There are indefensible truths we need to face — we perpetuate gender inequality in our homes, families, work spaces and places of learning. We are quick to blame government for the GBV crisis but overlook our role in sustaining it.

We need to do the hard work of introspection, transformation of societal norms and simultaneously follow the money on government promises.