This article is published as part of the CSVR Justice Op-Ed Series for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

The Bolwana* and Vayo* families are currently at odds with one another over the murder of their first granddaughter, who was brutally killed by her father, Stan Vayo*. The perpetrator has since been arrested, appeared before the Mthatha Magistrates Court, and ordered to undergo a full psychological assessment at the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital before the criminal case can proceed. Yet this legal step offers little comfort. Both families remain suspended in grief, trapped in emotional turmoil, guilt, and the profound rupture that femicide leaves within a family system.

This tragedy is not an isolated incident. Globally, recent femicide estimates reveal that nearly 50 000 women and girls were killed by their partners last year, with Africa showing the highest number of intimate partner/family member femicide incidences per region1. In South Africa, recent media reports indicate a sharp increase in this crime, however, no official monitor exists which actively tracks cases of femicide when reported. Conviction rates for the crime are also reportedly low, with less than 1 in 5 of intimate-partner femicide cases ending in a court judgement2. While criminal justice is key to ensuring families and friends of the victim receive the meaningful closure they deserve, current policing and judicial processes lack sensitivity to the psychosocial needs of the bereaved during investigation, trial and post-conviction.

The post-traumatic impact of femicide experienced by those left behind is hardly recognised and prioritised in the quest for justice. Behind each femicide case remains parents, children, relatives and friends of the victim that must face the aftermath of the heinous crime and its psychological aftereffects, which can last for years. Unique family dynamics can further complicate the bereavement process for parties involved, for example, when the perpetrator shared a child/children with the victim or the perpetrator and their family are closely known to the victim's family. Therefore, it is imperative for family members and loved ones to receive dedicated emotional wellness support in tandem with the criminal justice process. The phenomenon of femicide has far-reaching and multifaceted impacts on families, which extend beyond the immediate loss of a loved one. Families of femicide victims frequently endure profound emotional and psychological trauma. The grief associated with such a violent loss can lead to enduring mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Research has shown that the psychological ramifications can disrupt family dynamics and individual functioning, often resulting in a cycle of trauma that affects subsequent generations3. This emotional toll is compounded by the fact that femicide often occurs within contexts of intimate-partner violence, where families may already be grappling with existing trauma and stressors.

Children who witness or who are affected by the femicide of a parent face unique and severe challenges. Studies indicate that these children are at a heightened risk for emotional and behavioural problems, which can lead to difficulties in school, relationships, and their own mental health4. They may also be at greater risk of experiencing violence in their own lives, creating a generational cycle of violence that is difficult to break. In communities with high rates of femicide, societal fear and instability can become pervasive, undermining social cohesion and leading to increased violence and criminal activity5. This environment can affect not only the immediate families of femicide victims but also the broader community, as fear can stifle social interactions and support networks.

To ensure that access to justice for families and loved ones affected by femicide is trauma-informed and victim-centred, the following mechanisms must be put in place:

1. Immediate and specialised mental health and psychosocial support – This includes regular access to therapeutic services specific to the psychosocial needs of the families involved. The psychosocial support can involve trauma counselling, group grief therapy and family counselling to help rebuild the shattered family as a result of the violent act. The interventions must be long-term and structured in nature to allow loved ones ample time to process and adjust to the emotional repercussions of femicide.

2. Provision of quality social welfare services to child victims of femicide – To children who have lost one or both of their parents to femicide (either as perpetrator or victim of the crime), this can be an extremely distressing and unsettling period in their lives. It is crucial that minors who were under the care of the deceased victim be provided with sustained statutory services that seek to always promote the best interests of the children and inclusive of their views, where possible.

3. A strengthened focus on conflict resolution – As mentioned, femicide cases can often leave families in a state of disarray. Mediation should also be made paramount as part of the criminal justice process for containment of secondary matters that may arise post the gender-related killing such as child custody and family disputes.

4. Increased advocacy for standardised care-centred reparations for femicide victims across all provinces – Lawmakers must put systems in place within the judicial process that will allow for comprehensive and long-term support for victims of gendered-killings. This includes travel and accommodation costs at the expense of the State during legal proceedings, particularly for family members that reside far from the Court where a femicide case is being heard.

5. Strengthening of legal frameworks for stricter penalties for violence against women – Government must enforce laws that protect women from domestic violence and harassment, while ensuring that law enforcement agencies are adequately trained to respond effectively to reports of violence. In addition to this, concerted efforts must be done to increase the number of shelters, crisis hotlines and counselling to empower gender-based violence victims and offer them safe avenues to seek help.

6. Adopt and promote sustainable interventions for attitudinal change in boys and men – Civil society, the private sector and government institutions must play a greater role in engaging men and boys on progressive discussions about gender equality and respectful behaviours to build a culture that does not tolerate violence against women and girls.

Justice for families impacted by femicide must take on a multi-layered approach, one that acknowledges the emotional, social, and psychological dimensions of this devastating crime. While the system remains slow to evolve, families like the Bolwanas, the Vayos, and countless others continue to shoulder the heavy and often invisible burden of grief as they fight for accountability.

The opinion piece is written in memory of girls and women everywhere who have fallen victim to the senseless act of femicide as well as the bereaved families and friends left behind.

* The names of the families and individuals in this piece have been altered to safeguard their identities

Impunity Watch (IW) and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) are partners on a multi-annual strategy aimed at connecting youth voices to transitional justice policymaking spheres at the African Union (AU). As part of this strategy, research was conducted in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mali, and South Sudan on three key subjects: youth participation, masculinities, and MHPSS. A total of 360 young people participated in focus group discussions and 36 youth experts joined individual interviews across the four countries.

A first policy brief on youth inclusion in TJ policymaking was launched via a virtual event in February 2022. We are now ready to launch the series' second and third policy briefs.

On Wednesday 16th August 2023, the masculinities policy brief titled, "Youth Perspectives on Gender and Masculinities in Burundi, the DRC, Mali and South Sudan: Promoting Effective TJ Policies in Africa", will be launched.

Subsequently, on Thursday 17th August 2023, the MHPSS policy brief titled, "The Role of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in TJ: Perspectives from African Youth in DRC, Mali, Burundi and South Sudan", will be launched.

The events take place at 14:00 pm – 15:30 pm (GMT +2) via Zoom.

The languages of the events are English and French, with simultaneous interpretations.

Registration Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ijTenOmfSke4e5T1izcGIA#/registration

Hashtag: #youthparticipationTJ

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
The programme is open to new leaders, upcoming leaders and black womxn leaders in the social justice sector, to be accommodated in three separate streams. It is ideal for those wanting to heal from personal trauma, become more effective leaders and team members, deepen resilience practices and improve the functioning of their organization.

HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE?
1. Attend the virtual briefing on the 14th of October 2022 at 10:00am (SAST) where detailed information and application forms will be provided
2. Please register using the link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qf-6upj8oG9FHshM0_B1RLc5UPwaXbZcO
3. Complete the online application form after the briefing webinar

Supported by:
WHAT WILL THE PROGRAMME COVER, AND WHAT IS THE REQUIRED COMMITMENT?
STREAM 1: Programme for new Leaders
1. Group sessions over the duration of 2022 and 2023
2. Individual coaching sessions over the duration of 2022 and 2023
3. Counselling sessions
STREAM 2: Program for upcoming leaders
1. Group sessions over the duration of 2022 and 2023
2. Counselling sessions
STREAM 3: Programme for Black womxn leaders:
1. Group mentorship sessions over the duration of 2022 and 2023
2. Individual mentorship sessions over the duration of 2022 and 2023
3. Counselling sessions
4. 1 x 3-day retreat in 2023

All streams will have written submissions that will require at least 8 hours monthly.

WHAT IS THE COST?

The programme is fully sponsored, but places are limited. Interested candidates are invited to apply after the webinar briefing and before 20th October 2022 at 17:00 SAST via the application link which will be provided.
For queries, email: amwaikambo@csvr.org.za

Our religious institutions and our workplaces are no strangers to GBV survivors who are dealing with their own experiences in their own way, often in silence without any outward indication of what they are going through. Our homes – the spaces meant to be safe havens and places of refuge for women are instead warzones where the canvass of this war and violence is the body of a woman.

If laws were a panacea for solving all societal ills and problems, then gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa would be a thing of the past. The long list of laws in South Africa enacted and amended from time to time, to address GBV have proved inadequate on their own to curb the scourge of GBV. In a country with the most progressive and responsive laws to sexual violence, GBV and femicide, it is evident that winning the war against GBV will require an overhaul of systemic and deeply entrenched norms, beliefs and attitudes towards women in particular and violence more broadly.

Public reports and statistics paint a grim picture for us women in South Africa. The country is dubbed the rape capital of the world. Crime statistics for July to September 2021 show that 9 556 people were raped and according to the October to December 2021 statistics, 11 273 women were raped in South Africa.  It is estimated by the World Health Organisation that 12.1 in every 100 000 women are victims of femicide in South Africa each year, this is five times higher than the global average of 2.6. The female interpersonal violence death rate is also pegged at the fourth highest out of 183 countries listed in the 2016 WHO report.

As far back as 2017, our report titled Violence against Women in South Africa: A Country in Crisis highlighted that GBV in South Africa has reached crisis proportions necessitated multi-sectoral responses to curb its impacts, sentiments which were echoed by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the November 2018 Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. The National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, starts us off on this multi-sectoral response to GBV. However, the biggest gap is one of transforming mindsets, behaviour learned and practised over time as well as attitudes towards women and violence.

GBV is a product and an outcome of deeply entrenched cultural and patriarchal beliefs in society. It does not occur in a vacuum; it is systemic and institutionalised. Like a language, violence is learnt and can be "spoken", the GBV language is disproportionately spoken on the body of a woman. Like any other language, it can be transmitted, normalised and passed down to the next generation. This is evident when the screams of a woman in the middle of the night do not draw a crowd to her doorstep to help trigger a 10111 call to the police to report a possible domestic violence incident.

Women have to go through hoops to report GBV. From mustering enough courage to leave the home for the nearest police station to overcoming her fear of what reporting the incident will mean for her if the abuser is the breadwinner. From the uber driver that an abused woman e-hails to ferry her to the police station to report GBV, to the police officer at the police station who attends to her, and the pastor to whom she reports her abuse, there is no shortage of men appealing to her to forgive her partner, go back home and solve it, begging her not to report him. Our society is also not short of in-laws and parents who turn a blind eye to the abuse in the name of "what will people say when you leave"? Our communities are also not short of women who further entrench abusive and violent behaviour of men, blaming women for "asking for it", judging her instead of helping her.  Our very support systems in families, communities and society require this transformation if we are to reduce GBV in South Africa.

Laws written down to address GBV are at most an abstract, whose passing by Parliament and signing by the President remains relatively unknown by the majority of our community members. The existence of laws has not translated to increased reporting of GBV cases at our police stations to kick start the criminal justice process.  It is estimated that only one in nine cases of violence against women are actually reported. When families, communities and institutions are constantly dictating that a woman must "endure" and persevere against abuse and violence or that her behaviour must have caused her partner to "lose it", then we are still a long way to go in reducing the scourge of GBV in our homes, communities and society. In 2022, we cannot afford as women to be told that "emshadweni kuyabekezelwa" or that "uma ekushaya kusho uyakuthanda".

If we are to turn the tide against GBV, our focus and investment must prioritise what is believed and what prevails as norms towards women and violence. This starts with probing the motivations, root causes and key drivers of such toxic and abusive belief systems in order to challenge them and offer a counter-narrative. It calls for us to do the heavy lifting work of hearing and listening, sifting through these beliefs to separate fact from myth and accompanying communities and individuals, especially men, on a journey of unlearning those entrenched faulty belief systems and learning new positive ones that render spaces and safe for women. Transformation will also require that we reach out to women survivors of GBV, and start peeling off the layers of their trauma and the negative belief systems they harbour about themselves, accompanying them through a journey of healing through counselling services, and reinforcing their positive belief systems that say "you matter; it was not your fault; you are special; and you did not deserve what happened to you; it was wrong, it was criminal; you deserve better".

We provide counselling support to individuals, families and groups who have experienced Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), torture and other forms of collective violence. You can contact us on 071 241 1831. Call or send a "please call me" and one of our Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Practitioners will respond to you.

These guidelines document the ways in which clinicians have worked with migrant families affected by complex and continuous traumas. It provides an overview of the history of CSVR's work with families, its overall process of working with families, as well as the broader themes that have emerged in working with different family members across time.

Guidelines for Clinical Work with Migrant African Families Affected by Complex and Continuous Traumas