Wits Faculty of Health Sciences Statement on Gender-Based Violence and the Ekurhuleni Murders
- Wits Faculty of Heath Sciences
Wits Faculty of Health Sciences Statement on Gender-Based Violence and the Ekurhuleni Murders
The Wits Faculty of Health Sciences is deeply saddened and alarmed by the discovery of the bodies of nine women across Ekurhuleni since July. We extend our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones, including those still awaiting confirmation of their identities.
These deaths are a devastating reminder of South Africa’s persistent crisis of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF). They also force us to ask: what more must happen before we translate our acknowledgement of GBVF as a national crisis into sustained, effective prevention? The scale of this crisis has gained international attention including a statement of concern issued by the United Nations.
The circumstances surrounding the nine deaths remain under investigation. While similarities between some cases have raised concerns about possible links, the South African Police Service has not established that they are connected. We welcome the intensified multidisciplinary investigation and urge that every available investigative, forensic and intelligence resource be deployed to establish the circumstances of each death, identify those responsible and ensure justice. Speculation must not replace evidence, and the dignity and privacy of victims and their families must be protected throughout the process. (Daily Maverick)
However, these cases must not obscure the broader crisis. Gender-based violence is a public-health emergency. Its consequences extend beyond physical injury, contributing to trauma, mental-health challenges, sexual and reproductive health problems, disability, loss of livelihoods and profound disruption to families and communities. Children who witness violence and who lose mothers, caregivers or other family members to violence can carry these consequences across generations.
South Africa has compelling evidence of the scale of this crisis. Yet the continuing deaths of women show that evidence alone is insufficient. We must translate evidence into prevention, effective implementation and accountability.
The Faculty is particularly concerned by what the Ekurhuleni cases reveal about systems intended to protect women.
Families searching for missing women should not have to navigate fragmented institutions in search of answers. Information on missing persons and unidentified bodies should be rapidly and systematically shared across police, forensic, health and other relevant services. Patterns of violence must be identified early, investigated rigorously and acted upon before further lives are lost. Recent reporting has highlighted gaps in information-sharing and the absence of a real-time system capable of identifying patterns across jurisdictions. (Daily Maverick)
Prevention must be the central measure of our response to GBVF.This requires sustained investment in understanding the causes and patterns of violence, evidence-based prevention programmes, stronger survivor services, effective responses to reports of missing women, improved forensic capacity, better integration across health, policing, social and justice services, and rigorous evaluation of interventions to determine what reduces violence.
Preventing GBVF cannot be reduced to advising women to change their behaviour.
Women should not have to calculate whether it is safe to run, walk, travel, work, socialise or use public spaces or only go out in daylight hours. Responsibility for preventing violence must not be transferred to those at risk of experiencing it. Women should not have to make themselves smaller, less visible or less free in order to survive.
Changing the behaviours, attitudes and social norms that enable violence is a collective responsibility, particularly for men and for institutions with the power to prevent violence and hold perpetrators accountable.
Men must be part of the solution. This means challenging harmful attitudes towards women, intervening when violence or coercive behaviour is identified, supporting survivors and refusing to normalise misogyny, harassment and violence. Silence and indifference cannot be allowed to create an environment in which violence flourishes. The smallest gesture of male disrespect to women must now be challenged - including inappropriate comments by work colleagues or unwanted comments aimed at women in public spaces.
As a Faculty of Health Sciences, we recognise our particular responsibility. Our role includes generating rigorous evidence, educating future health professionals, providing compassionate clinical care, supporting survivors and working with communities to develop and evaluate effective prevention strategies. Universities and health institutions must not only document the scale of GBVF, but also develop and test interventions that demonstrably reduce it and offer support to students and staff exposed to violence.
The nine women whose bodies have been found in Ekurhuleni must not become another statistic. Every woman who is killed represents a life, a family, a community and a future that has been taken away.
The Wits Faculty of Health Sciences calls for a response to GBVF commensurate with the scale and urgency of the crisis: evidence-based, adequately resourced, coordinated across institutions, centred on prevention and accompanied by meaningful accountability.
We owe this to the women whose lives have been lost, their grieving families, and every woman and girl who should be able to live without organising her life around the fear of violence.
Wits Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand