The Sunday Mail
SADC defines Gender Based Violence as “all acts perpetuated against women, men, boys and girls on the basis of their sex which cause or could cause them physical, sexual, psychological, emotional or economic harm”.
The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development has six targets which the regional bloc hopes will eliminate Gender Based Violence at every level by 2015.
These are:
To enact and enforce legislation that prohibits all forms of gender-based violence;
To ensure that the laws on GBV provide for the comprehensive testing, treatment and care of survivors of sexual assault;
To review and reform criminal laws and procedures applicable to cases of sexual offences and GBV;
To enact and adopt specific legislative provisions to prevent human trafficking and provide holistic services to victims of trafficking with the aim of re-integrating them into society;
To enact legislative provisions, and concurrently adopt and implement policies, strategies and programmes, which define and prohibit sexual harassment in all spheres, and provide deterrent sanctions for perpetrators of sexual harassment; and
To adopt integrated approaches, including institutional cross-sector structures, with the aim of reducing the levels of GBV by 50 percent by 2015.
While the protocol articulates these noble goals, the reality is GBV is worsening in the SADC region.
Recent research reports reveal that in Namibia 50 percent of all women experience GBV at sometime in their lives, while in South Africa, national statistics indicate that one in three women has been raped, and this consequently represents a startling rape every 26 seconds.
According to statistics in that country, only one in eight rapes are reported to the police and only 7 percent of the cases result in convictions.
In Zimbabwe, one self-proclaimed apostle and church pastor was recently arrested for allegedly sexually abusing a female congregant. This is not an isolated case as other local pastors are also being accused of GBV.
My question is: why is GBV arguably worsening despite clarity of the goals espoused in the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development?
My primary postulation is perhaps gender relations in the region are under-researched.
I would also argue that those referring to themselves as “gender researchers” and gender-sensitive journalists in Sadc are fixated with traditional explanations such as that patriarchy and skewed gender relations are the primary explanations behind GBV.
Yet, these individuals neither offer critical narratives in terms of the complexities of GBV, nor solutions thereof.
For instance, it is rarely reported that there has been an increase in female-on-male aggression. The latest emergence of “sperm harvesters” highlights that GBV is not simply an issue of patriarchy.
In June, it was reported that a South African man was “sexually abused” and robbed by three women in Mutare. The man was robbed of shoes, a passport, a Samsung Galaxy 4 cellular phone, a satchel with his clothes and US$900.
The phrase “sexually abused” is used in this instance because the legal term “rape” is traditionally perceived as a male-on-female crime.
Reports have also emerged that there has been an increase in female-on-female GBV. This occurs in the forms of female prisoners assaulting (sexually and otherwise) each other; females who organise or participate in human trafficking against other females, and lesbians who commit acts of GBV.
In summary, while it is true that male-on-female aggression is the most common form of GBV, and that much work still needs to be done to thwart the scourge, it is also important to acknowledge that GBV is not limited to male-on-female aggression and that perhaps the fact that it is on the increase in the SADC region is owing to other forms in which it occurs.
One hopes the upcoming SADC Summit will give us insights into the issue.
Tau Tawengwa is a Zimbabwean researcher.
