Community Dialogue

Violence is a global public health concern with serious and fatal health consequences. Mostly women are affected directly or indirectly by the impact of violence. There are a number of factors, biological and social, that make women globally more vulnerable to violence (Cybulska, 2007).

Violence has become endemic in South African societies. Studies have found very high levels of intimate partner violence in South Africa whilst others have shown high levels of sexual violence (Abrahams et al., 2009, Mathews et al., 2008, Mathews et al., 2009).

In an attempt to address the social ills of interpersonal and intimate partner violence the government introduced pieces of legislation to strengthen its systems to adequately respond. These include the Domestic Violence Act (DVA) and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 32 of 2007. These acts were meant to ensure that victims could find redress through judicial, law enforcement, health and social development systems.

The acts were also meant to encourage survivors to break the silence around violence perpetration. It has been shown with the DVA that this was not necessarily the case and civil society had to mobilise to force government to ensure the total implementation of the act by providing the necessary resources.

In order for societies to open up about violence and its consequences, a supportive environment needs to be created which will both allow people to openly talk about violence, its perpetration and possible remedies necessary to abate its further perpetration (Ahrens, 2006, Jacques-Tiura et al., 2010).