In South Africa, more than 7.3 million women have experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives. This is according to the Human Sciences Research Council HSRC First South African National Gender-Based Violence Study published in 2024.
Since the beginning of this year, SABC News has been sharing daily gender-based violence GBV statistics on social media to highlight the magnitude of the crisis. The posts have drawn active public participation, with the comments section showing a disturbing trend.
Most men in the comments acknowledged that GBV is real however, instead of focusing on accountability for what the South African government has classified as a National Disaster, many comments shifted the blame.
