Gender justice group urges South Africa's Zuma to create commission to stop sexualized violence

Just as India mobilized following the gang rape and murder of a young woman in December, so too is South Africa beginning to push back after the gang rape and murder of Anene Booysen, a 17-year-old woman who was raped and mutilated beyond recognition and left dead at a construction site in Bredasdorp, outside Cape Town, on February 1. The attack was so horrifying, hospital staff that treated Booysen had to be counseled after seeing the mutilation she endured, according to news reports. Her mother reportedly only recognized her body by her shoes.

In this letter to South African President Jacob Zuma, the Sonke Gender Justice Network, a South African human rights organization that focuses on gender equality (we have written about them here), calls on government leaders to act following Booysen’s death. Sonke has also created an online petition calling for the government to fund an inquiry into the country’s rape problem, as well as a public education campaign.

Below, the organization demands that Zuma examine why sexualized violence is so common in the region—and why laws aimed at preventing it are not enforced.

His Excellency President Jacob Zuma
Union Buildings
Government Avenue,
Private Bag X1000, Pretoria, 0001
Sent via email: presidentrsa@po.gov.za
February 12, 2013

Your Excellency President Zuma:

We greet you in the name of gender equality and the struggle for women’s rights.

We have been saddened by the events of the past week, which have highlighted the crisis of sexual violence in our country.

We call for a Commission of Inquiry into gender-based violence to be urgently appointed and to be lead by an eminent jurist with experience and credibility to convene a high level national process of this nature.

We also urge the Presidency and the Ministry of Finance to work hand in hand with civic organizations and private sector entities to establish a Special Fund to support the efforts of organizations that are seeking to prevent violence and address its root causes.

We are well aware of the pressing priorities facing the state, and are convinced that in addition to current spending, an additional funding stream of R10 billion must be set aside to ensure that prevention efforts—many of which must be generated and implemented by community, youth and women’s associations—are fully funded. It is our firm belief that this Fund should be created and supported through a multi-stakeholder process, but that the government—and national treasury in particular—have an important role to play in kick starting the process.

As organisations that work in the women’s sector and on gender issues, we are well aware of effective strategies that can be used to bolster the good laws and policies that exist to address sexual violence. But we are also aware that the institutional processes and mechanisms that are supposed to support victims and their families, and mete out justice, are often too slow and/or ineffective.

We wish to begin a genuine dialogue with the state about this that moves beyond the mandate of the proposed Gender Based Violence Council that will advise the Minister for Women Affairs. While the GBV Council is a step in the right direction in terms of inclusion and coordination, a more in-depth mechanism for holding departments accountable and for looking into the systemic blockages to progress, is of critical urgency.

The Commission, and the Special Fund are initiatives that will begin to address the long-term and systemic nature of the challenge of violence against women.

Below please find an outline of the proposed structure of the Commission and the Fund, as well as a list of the organizations that already stand in support of this initiative.

We stand ready to work with your office to roll out a national process that both investigates the causes and consequences of sexual violence, and seeks to address the funding gaps facing women and community-based organisations.

We further call on you to announce your intention to institute the inquiry and explore mechanisms for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder fund, in the State of the Nation Address this week.

We look forward to working with the Presidency and the Treasury on this important matter.

Dean Peacock & Desmond Lesejeane
Sonke Gender Justice Network

Proposed Terms of Reference for the Commission of Inquiry into Gender-Based Violence
We, the undersigned organisations, representing civil society groups working with and for the interests of women, young people and the victims and survivors of gender-based violence, propose the following:
1. That a Commission on Gender-based Violence be established and appointed by the President of South Africa to be chaired by a senior jurist with the stature, experience and influence necessary to get buy-in from the public in order to assess the needs for systemic change.

2. That the Commission examine and provide recommendations to address the continuum of violence with a heavy focus on two key issues:
(i) The causes of violence at community and family levels;
(ii) Key obstacles in the implementation of South Africa’s laws, policies across the various state departments that are responsible for ensuring that women and girls can enjoy their constitutional rights to security of the person, dignity and equality.

3. That the overall goal of the Commission be to put in place a coherent long-term strategy to ensure that South Africa dramatically reduces the incidence of gender-based violence in the country.

4. That the objective of the Commission be to develop a list of recommendations to guide government action in the coming decade, that will dramatically decrease the number of acts of sexual violence against women and girls and protect women’s rights in the event that sexual abuse does occur.

5. That the Commission convene national hearings with state agencies, research institutions and civil society organisations and that it conduct community consultations so that the voices of ordinary women, and community members are foregrounded. In doing this the commission will be empowered to explore three core questions:
(i) What explains the high levels of men’s violence against women?
(ii) Why it is that the many laws and institutions established to address
GBV are not operating optimally?
(iii) What must be done—at a scaled up and replicable level—to stop the
violence and to respond to it where it continues to occur?

6. That the Commission be required to meet promptly after its establishment and will be required to submit a final report within six months. Further, we propose that the commission be provided with resources to facilitate public participation and convene both national consultations and multiple hearings per province.

7. That recommendations made by the Commission be reviewed by the President and be tabled in Parliament expeditiously and that resources be made available in line with the recommendations. Furthermore, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on the Status and Quality of Women's Lives must conduct a review of action against recommendations at six months and again at 12 months and then every year thereafter for the next five years.

8. That a Multi-Stakeholder Fund to Prevent Gender-Based Violence be set up in recognition of the fact that many women's groups providing critical prevention and support services to women and girls have closed in the last decade. The Fund—which shall mobilize R10 billion—will encourage innovation and partnerships amongst private, public and nongovernmental actors and will provide support to the many community based organizations that have a demonstrated track record of success in combatting gender-based violence.

Endorsed by:
The Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR)
Lifeline
National Shelter Movement of South Africa
New Women's Movement
People Opposed to women Abuse (POWA)

RAPCAN
South African Council of Churches (SACC)
S
Sonke Gender Justice Network

South African Women in Dialogue (SAWID)
Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre (TLAC)
Western Cape Network on Violence Against Women
Western Cape Women's Shelter Movement
World Vision South Africa

Women’s Health Research Unit, University of Cape Town
Women’s Legal Centre (WLC)