The discovery of nine women’s bodies in and around Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, over roughly two months, has renewed concerns about violence against women in South Africa. Five bodies were reportedly found within four days in mid-September, expanding public anxiety and prompting enquiries if the deaths are connected.
Police have not established that a single person or group is responsible. Investigators are examining several possibilities, including a serial killer, multiple perpetrators or unrelated crimes. Similarities reported in some cases, including victims being found partially naked and with signs of physical assault, have heightened concern, but do not by themselves prove a common perpetrator or gender-based motive.
That distinction is important. Not every killing of a woman is necessarily gender-based violence (GBV), and investigators must establish the circumstances, motive and relationship between victims and perpetrators, before individual cases can be classified as femicide or GBV-related. So far, the killings are unfolding against South Africa’s longstanding crisis of violence against women, which research and government institutions have linked to unequal sociopower play relations, patriarchal expectations, economic vulnerability and harmful gender norms.
South Africa’s national research on GBV has identified attitudes surrounding male authority, sexual entitlement and control in relationships as factors that can contribute to violence. Such expectations can also operate within families, homes, where men may be regarded as providers and decision-makers, whereas women are expected to accommodate, care for families and preserve relationships, regardless of the abuse at home.
Also, economic dependence can make leaving abusive relationships, even more difficult. The resultant effect, is a society in which many women are forced to calculate everyday’s risks such as where to walk, when to travel, whether to exercise alone and whom to trust. These are parts of why the Ekurhuleni deaths have resonated so intensely. To most women, the prevailing fear derived from these attacks, is not basically an awareness of a possible serial killer on the loose, but a wider anxiety that an ordinary social activity, can suddenly become dangerous.
Police warnings to avoid isolated places and exercise extreme caution, may provide immediate protection, but they also raise an uncomfortable concern about their civic responsibility to citizens. The burden of preventing violence cannot solely rest with women. The responsibility lies with institutions charged with protecting communities, investigating crimes, securing justice for victims and nabbing perpetrators into incarceration centers.
Culture is part of the discussion too, but it should not be used as a single explanation for South Africa’s gender-based-violence (GBV) crisis. The country is culturally, ethnically and religiously diverse; and many communities strongly reject violence against women. Nevertheless, government and parliamentary research has repeatedly identified patriarchal structures and unequal relationships, as factors that can reinforce GBV. Traditional or religious ideas, can also be interpreted in ways that place men in positions of authority and women in subordinate roles.
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