Why the festive season is a particularly dark time for GBV in SA
A combination of increased alcohol consumption, financial pressure and heightened emotions points to an increase in gender-based violence incidents during this time.
Organisations see a notable increase in GBV incidents during the festive season. Picture: Pexels
CAPE TOWN - Some organisations representing women and children have highlighted the negative impact of gender-based violence (GBV) in society, nearly a month after the country observed 16 days of activism against the practice.
In the last week, the country was rocked by two separate cases where law enforcement officers from SAPS and the Hawks shot their partners.
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Founder and executive director of the Callas Foundation, Caroline Peters, several factors contributed to the rise of GBV cases this festive season.
“We’ve seen a notable increase in gender-based violence cases during this time of the year. There’s a combination of financial pressure, heightened emotions, and increased alcohol consumption, and all of these exacerbate the tensions, leading to more incidents of violence,” Peters said.
She also weighed in on what she described as toxic masculinity.
“In South Africa, which has lots of patriarchal norms, toxic masculinity exacerbates these issues. We’ve seen in KZN and another province where the perpetrator kills the woman and then hangs himself. In one incident, one of our ex-minister’s nephews was implicated—he killed her, killed the child, and then hung himself. Toxic masculinity exacerbates these issues, turning stress into violence against women and children,” she said.