Violence against women and children has been ongoing for years resulting in appalling statistics. Factors such as domestic violence in households, rape assaults, beatings in the public place against women and girls are some of the acts reported.
The South African Medical Research Council (MRC) has found that 40% of men assault their partners daily and that three women in South Africa are killed by their partners every day. According to Statistics SA, one in five women experience physical violence.
Women and girls have become victims in society of being vulnerable to abuse such as rape and physical attack.
In a press statement, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Chairperson, Ms Thandi Modise, highlighted the impact the issue of violence against women and children has on society.
“Violence against women and girls cuts across ethnicity, race, class, religion, education level and international borders. Statistics on the prevalence of violence vary,” she said, “but the scale is tremendous, the scope is vast, and the consequences for individuals, families, communities, and countries are devastating,” said Modise.
She said that everyone has the right to live their life without the threat of violence and that violence against women and girls is not inevitable and that there are many ways to prevent violence and to stop cycles of violence from repeating.
“South Africa’s Constitution, the supreme law of the country, protected women’s rights and the country’s laws and government programmes elaborated on those rights. Despite this, South Africa was still a deeply violent society and violence against women, including rape, domestic violence, remained very high.
“We reportedly have one of the highest per capita rate of rape in the world,” said Ms Modise.
She further stated that addressing this blight of violence needs a multi-pronged approach including parliament increasing oversight role in the public, including men, in opposing violence and increasing judicial enforcement of laws.
“Women and children constantly live in fear in society, they fear for their safety, they are being preyed upon, exploited and being taken advantage of. Ending violence against women and children is a great challenge and the process of ending it will take a while,” she said.
