Saturday 25 November marked 25 years of South Africa’s participation in the United Nation’s annual global campaign of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children. 

This year the theme “Invest to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls” called for a focus on raising capital to support gender-based violence (GBV) prevention strategies.

To contribute to the campaign, Change Agents South Africa, an NPO based in Montagu, Western Cape along with various other stakeholders, amongst which included the Afrikaanse Christelike Vroue Vereeniging (ACCV), the Montagu SAPS and the CWDM, launched a series of anti-GBV education and training workshops on 24 November.

This was according to Olin Kiewiets, managing director of Change Agents South Africa, an NPO that focuses on providing substance abuse and GBV-related interventions to people and families affected by these issues in the country’s farming communities.

The last programme included in the series of workshops took place on 10 December, said Bernice Jacobs, community development worker at ACVV Montagu. 

GBV, although globally regarded as a systemic crisis, continues to proliferate in South Africa’s rural and agriculturally driven communities, said Kiewiets. 

A significant percentage of women affected by GBV in these rural communities are employed in the hospitality sector, which is currently facing high counts of absenteeism as a result of injuries sustained due to acts of GBV, explained Kiewiets. 

In a survey released in August this year, South African Tourism reported that women account for 51% of employees within the tourism sector. 

“Tourism contributes to the economy of our municipality — agriculture and tourism. A lot of people working in tourism are women that are being beaten up, but still have to go to work,” he said.

Kiewiets emphasised the importance of the collaboration between NPOs and municipal authorities to address the GBV pandemic and “raise awareness in farming communities specifically”. Municipal police services rarely engage in domestic disputes on farmlands unless a murder has taken place or the case is deemed serious in nature, he claimed. 

Women picket at Constantia Circle on 8 August, 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. The group of working class women protested against gender based violence, violence of hunger, poverty, unemployment and neglect from government and big businesses who export and waste tons while communities go hungry. (Photo: Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)

Cause and effect 

“No one organisation will be able to extinguish the plight of GBV, poverty, unemployment, or drug abuse,” said Jayson George, associate attorney at Bowmans and chairperson of Change Agents South Africa. “It’s something that should extend well beyond these 16 days and it’s something that we must continuously talk about to empower individuals.”

The BoyChild Trailblazer programme forms part of the series of workshops devised by Change Agents South Africa to address the topic of domestic violence with young boy children as a preventative method. Change Agents can tackle the issue before it extends into adulthood, said George.

Most of Montagu’s substance abuse-related matters, for example, are rooted in childhood experiences of GBV, Kiewietz said. “[Those experiences] are mimicked in their perspective lives, and also with regards to them being adults.”

Read more in Daily Maverick: Gender-based violence and femicide is a 365-day-a-year issue

Many young boys in rural farming communities “grow up in single-parent or fatherless households”, said Kiewietz. This makes it difficult for them to address the problems caused by absentee fathers that arise at later stages in their lives, added George.

“One of the key initiatives is to solve the problem at the root and if males are the predominant perpetrators when it comes to GBV, we need to start by addressing their circumstances,” said George. “If we address the root causes of why they act the way they do and shape narratives around masculinity and how that encourages violent behaviour […] we can let them know that there’s a better life.”

George pointed out that the solution rests in guiding the youth and providing them with alternative solutions. Change Agents South Africa’s mentorship programmes have been essential in providing young boys with father-like figure models to reshape these narratives, said George. 

“To show [boys] a different way [of expressing anger and emotion], to show them an alternative, that’s how you’re going to get the GBV problem mitigated or solved, to address the problem at its roots,” said George. 

Community members protest over Gender Based Violence on R553 Golden Highway on 25 August, 2021 in Vlakfontein, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)

The campaign

The Cape Winelands District Municipality’s (CWDM) portfolio and head of Rural and Social Development, Counsellor Minnie Peterson, launched the 16 Days of Activism campaign in Montagu on 24 November. 

“I commend the remarkable efforts of Change Agents South Africa in the relentless work they do to combat gender-based violence,” Peterson told Daily Maverick. 

“In the spirit of the 16 days of activism campaign for No Violence against Women and Children, we want to reaffirm our ongoing commitment to fostering a safe and supportive environment through partnerships with organisations like Change Agents South Africa.

“Together, we strive for the holistic development and empowerment of all communities, with a dedicated focus on supporting and uplifting vulnerable groups.”

The collaboration between the municipality, Change Agents South Africa and ACVV took to the Graham Beck Skills Centre on 27 November, where the bodies hosted a workshop that dealt with educating the public on the effects of GBV on the economy. 

ACVV hosted a victim empowerment programme on 7 December, said Jacobs. This programme attempted to show appreciation for those voluntarily sharing their experiences of domestic abuse, to give them a safe platform to express their struggles while highlighting the need for GBV intervention strategies within the community, she explained. 

The programmes were awareness-focussed, said Jacobs. “We had a lot of speakers addressing the different types of abuse there is and all the negatives of GBV.

“The hotspot of GBV is in our rural areas,” said Jacobs. 

It is because of this that regardless of the campaign’s outcome that NPOs continue to partner with the relevant stakeholders to effectively address the scourge of violence against women and children, said George. 

He added that by addressing domestic abuse at the root cause, that being through educating boys and men on its effects, “women are empowered to become more knowledgeable about their rights, they will know which direction to take to protect themselves”. 

“I think it’s very important for us to continue this dialogue and take this matter seriously well beyond the 16 days Campaign,” George said. DM