South Africa has declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster, but the country already has a national strategy, institutions and years of interventions aimed at confronting the crisis.
CheckPoint host Nkepile Mabuse speaks to gender-violence researcher Lisa Vetten about the harder question: are we learning enough about what drives violence, what has worked before and why progress appears uneven?
Their conversation moves beyond declarations and awareness campaigns into prevention, intimate-partner violence, coercive control, the role families and institutions can play in reinforcing abuse, and the quality of the data used to measure progress.
At stake is a fundamental accountability question: can South Africa reduce GBV if it cannot reliably identify which interventions work, where violence is changing and why?
Catch up on all CheckPoint Podcast episodes here: https://www.enca.com/checkpoint-podcast-0
Chapter List
(00:00) What Does Declaring GBV A National Disaster Actually Change?
(01:28) South Africa Reduced Femicide Before—What Actually Worked?
(04:19) Are GBV Events And Labels Replacing Deeper Understanding?
(05:59) Who Poses The Greatest Risk To Women?
(07:57) Why Leaving An Abusive Relationship Is So Difficult
(11:14) How Families And Institutions Can Reinforce Abuse
(16:39) Can People Be Taught To React Without Violence?
(19:55) Is A National-Disaster Response The Right Model For GBV?
(21:43) Can South Africa Trust Its Femicide Statistics?
(23:34) How Violence Becomes Normal Across Generations
(28:49) When Speaking About GBV Becomes A Substitute For Action
