Cape Town - South African courts and municipalities are partnering with an NGO to set ambitious targets to address gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) across the country.
The End GBVF Collective has so far managed to get 25 courts and 20 municipalities signed up and started preparations for the 100-Day Challenge journey.
The 100-Day Challenges engage local communities, front-line teams and leaders, inspiring them to commit to unreasonably ambitious 100-Day goals that will have a direct impact on GBVF in their respective districts.
This comes after the recent release of quarter four crime statistics by Minister Bheki Cele, who reinforced the urgent need to implement effective strategies to address gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa.
For the reporting period of January to March 2023, a total of 10 512 rapes were reported, and 969 women were murdered.
End GBVF Collective’s representative, Sixolile Ngcobo, said: “A 4.35% decrease in sexual offences in quarter four is a shift in the right direction. However, with the more than ten thousand rape cases reported, the work done to address GBVF needs to accelerate rapidly.
“We are very excited to be working with 45 courts and municipalities who will be starting their 100-Day journey. So far, we have 25 courts and 20 municipalities who have signed up and started preparations for the 100-Day Challenge journey,” said Ngcobo.
The 100-Day Challenges proved to be a highly effective model to address GBVF within communities in 2021 and 2022.
“In 11 courts, the backlog of domestic violence protection orders was reduced by 98% in 100 days. By creating safer spaces and repairing street lights, the team in Frances Baard District managed to reduce reported cases of sexual offences by 45% in two wards. At the end of their 100-Day project, the team in Matjhabeng in the Free State increased the referral of new GBV cases by 250%, translating to 1092 survivors accessing psychosocial services in a single month.
“In 2023, we will be scaling up the 100-Day Challenges and building on these results.”
The idea behind involving courts in the 100-Day Challenges is to support the justice system in improving the finalisation of GBVF-related cases, reducing the backlog of GBVF cases, and using technology to speed up processes and improve access to justice, to mention a few, Ngcobo added.
“Our realisation is that by involving municipalities, we can identify plans to create safer public spaces, generate a greater level of awareness of GBVF and provide a greater level of support for GBVF survivors, including increasing opportunities for economic empowerment,” said Ngcobo.
To keep up with the developments of the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges, follow the collective’s social media channels:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/endgbvf100days
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/endgbvf_100daychallenges/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gbvf100days
Cape Times