Gender-based violence is unfortunately a common occurrence in South Africa.
Gender-based violence happens regardless of marital status, cohabitation, or separation when one partner uses violence to gain dominance and control over the other.
The term “harm” refers to a variety of expressions, such as shouting as a form of verbal abuse, manipulation, control, and humiliation as a form of emotional abuse, hitting and/or punching as a form of physical abuse, and inappropriate touching or rape as a form of sexual abuse directed towards the woman or her children.
The New Domestic Violence Amendment Act 14 of 2021 defines domestic violence as:
Physical abuse – Any act or threat of physical violence meant to injure or hurt someone. Physical abuse includes beating, slapping, punching, choking, pushing, and other contact that injures the victim. Physical abuse can also entail denying the victim medical care, sleep, or pushing drug/alcohol use. It can also involve hurting children or pets to affect the sufferer psychologically.
Sexual abuse – Any act that violates the victim’s sexuality. Sexual abuse occurs when force or threat is used to obtain undesired sexual activity. Even if a spouse or intimate partner has had consensual sex, forcing someone to have sexual activity is violent. Any conduct that abuses, humiliates, degrades, or otherwise violates the sexual integrity of the victim can fall into this category.
Emotional and psychological abuse – Patterns of insulting or humiliating behavior toward the victim, either in private or public, such as repeated insults, ridicule, name-calling, and/or threats to cause emotional pain; or showing obsessive possessiveness or jealousy over and over again, which is a serious invasion of the victim’s privacy, liberty, integrity, or safety.
Economic abuse is denying the victim economic or financial resources that they are legally entitled to or need, such as household necessities, mortgage bond payments, rent money in a shared residence, and getting rid of their belongings or other property in which they have an interest without a good reason.
Intimidation, harassment, or stalking – Uttering or conveying a threat, or causing a victim to receive a threat, which induces fear, to scare the victim into submission. This includes but is not limited to watching the victim, loitering outside of or near the building/place where the victim resides, works, carries out business, studies, or happens to be. Repeated phone calls, prolonged patterns of reaching out to, or attempting to reach, a specific victim persistently and recurrently.
Gender-based violence can affect individuals of any age, gender, race, or socioeconomic background. The new Act was introduced to afford victims protection If you or someone you know is experiencing any form of domestic violence, it’s crucial to seek assistance.
Make an appointment with one of our domestic violence attorneys as soon as possible to obtain a protection order
