Media Station

Date: 17 October 2023

It’s Day 70 in the 100-Day journey and we have seen teams discover some incredibly valuable insights. Let’s look at some of the themes and lessons that have emerged:

Many of our court teams have adopted virtual technology which has been found to speed up trials by 50%. 

Mediation has also been used as a tool to reduce backlogs and increase turnaround times, by encouraging constructive dialogue that leads to case resolution and faster justice. 

Economic empowerment has also been identified as an important tool to help GBV survivors on their healing journey. Economic empowerment initiatives provide survivors with an increased sense of self-worth, financial independence and the opportunity to overcome trauma.

Sport and recreational activities have also received a lot of attention. Sport provides a platform for young people to engage positively with each other while reducing idle time that could lead to harmful behaviours that perpetuate violence, especially GBVF.

As we continue with our 100-Day journey, let’s show our support for all the teams who are exploring new ways of addressing GBVF and discovering innovations that strengthen our collective response! 

RELEASE DATE: 25 SEPTEMBER 2023

Nineteen courts within the Limpopo province have committed to significantly improve the way in which they process gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) cases in their courts. This effort is a part of a wider national campaign, known as the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges, where multisectoral teams across South Africa take on ambitious challenges to end GBVF in their communities.

When the domestic violence team at Lenyene court started their challenge, they set the goal to reduce the turnaround time of domestic violence cases from 6 to 4 weeks in 100 days. Committing to this goal, the team started exploring ways to increase efficiency within the court system. As a result, the team has managed to completely clear their entire backlog of 102 domestic violence cases.

Nkowankowa court set a goal to reduce the backlog of maintenance cases by 60% from 158 to 95 in 100 days. The team has exceeded this target and reduced its backlog to 33 remaining cases.

This wave of End GBVF 100-Day Challenges started on Women’s Day and are set to run until the “16 Days of Activism against GBV”, giving all teams an opportunity to dive deeper into ending GBVF over this commemorative period.

To achieve these results, many of the Limpopo courts have adopted virtual technology to avoid delaying cases and increase the efficiency of processing individual cases. Through their 100-Day Challenge journey, the divorces team at Polokwane court has learnt that using virtual technology can speed up trials by 50%. Evidence can be shared virtually, and witnesses can give evidence virtually. The advancement of courtroom technology improves access to justice and makes justice more accessible to parties. There is also a reduction in travel expenses for parties, court officials and witnesses.

RELEASE DATE: Monday, 29 August 2023

Limpopo’s justice system is undergoing a significant shift in the way gender-based violence (GBV) related cases are processed in courts. Nineteen courts within the Limpopo province are delving into their current processes and technology toolbox to identify new ways to reduce the turnaround time in processing GBV related cases, including domestic violence protection orders, sexual offences, divorce cases, and maintenance cases. This effort is a part of the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges, a national campaign that challenges frontline teams within the court and municipal ecosystems to develop and implement innovative strategies to address GBVF head on.

Mankweng Magistrates Court in Polokwane is aiming to reduce the backlog of sex offences by 70% in 100 days. In Thulamela, Sibasa Regional Court is aiming to reduce the backlog of sex offences by 63%, bringing the number of cases down from 238 to 88. The team from Lephalale Magistrates Court in Waterberg is aiming to reduce the outstanding roll of sexual offences cases by 80% in 100 days.

“We have over 85 teams that are participating in the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges in 2023,” says Sixolile Ngcobo from the End GBVF 100-Day Challenge implementation team. “While we have our courts exploring new strategies and innovations to reduce the backlog and turnaround times of GBV-related cases, we also have our municipalities aiming to create safer public spaces, improve GBVF reporting systems, and increase the number and speed of service providers for post-crisis support and healing.”

This wave of End GBVF 100-Day Challenges started on Women’s Day and are set to run until the “16 Days of Activism against GBV”, giving all teams an opportunity to dive deeper into ending GBVF over this commemorative period. The End GBVF 100-Day Challenges are also planned for 2024, ensuring that the movement towards addressing GBVF is not only sustained, but also continues to grow, as this is such a crucial social issue to address.

Through implementing virtual technology, Lenyene Magistrates Court in Greater Tzaneen was able to fully mediate and settle a maintenance dispute in less than an hour. “Adopting technology prevents tiresome court postponements and allows for a much more efficient system overall. We will see more courts utilising virtual systems to speed up their processes,” says Jakkie Wessels, Regional Court President in Limpopo.

Previous pilot projects completed between 2020 and 2022 saw some remarkable results. In 11 courts, the backlog of domestic violence protection orders was reduced by 98% in 100 days.

Further to sexual offences, divorce, and maintenance cases; domestic violence is also receiving a lot of attention with participating courts aiming to reduce the turnaround times to finalise cases. Nkowankowa Magistrate Court in Greater Tzaneen set a goal to reduce turnaround time to finalise Domestic violence cases from 8 to 4 weeks and reduce the backlog by 80%. Senwabarwana Magistrate Court in Capricorn aims to reduce turnaround time from 6 weeks to 14 days, and completely reduce the backlog by 100%.

“Reducing the backlog and turnaround times for GBV-related cases ensures timely justice for those who have experienced unimaginable trauma,” says Wessels. “A swift response to GBVF by our justice system will build public confidence in our courts and also encourage more GBVF survivors to come forward and report their cases, knowing that they will be served.”

RELEASE DATE: 10 July 2023

Despite a slight decrease of reported sexual offences in quarter four (January to March 2023), women and children remain most at risk of experiencing violence, harassment, or rape. South Africa continues to have particularly high rates of GBVF, with around 45% of rapes perpetrated against children, according to SAPS statistics. 

“South Africa cannot continue like this; with woman and children living in fear and then not having sufficient crisis response, support and healing services should they experience sexual assault or rape,” says Sixolile Ngcobo, from the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges. “One of our aims for the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges this year is to increase the capacity of service providers in the referral network for crisis response and post-crisis care and healing, and to have more survivors access this support system.”

“Through the 100-Day Challenges in 2023, we could see teams finding innovative ways to adopt technology and new processes to increase the speed at which survivors are assisted.”

In the Western Cape, Garden Route District, the 100-Day Challenge Team in 2022 trialled a new mobile app to speed up the process of reporting child sexual and related offence cases. The app allowed social workers to be assigned to all child sexual and related cases at 1st reporting. The app directly addressed a number of identified system inefficiencies with tracking Form 22, which is used to report child abuse.  Adopting technology like this has the great potential to  improve quality of service delivery to victims, reduced process delays and blockages, improved perpetrator conviction rates, interconnectedness between role-players, thus strengthening efficiency. 

It is important to acknowledge that reporting sexual abuse is a sensitive matter and therefore can be difficult. Many survivors might not be completely sure what happened or how to talk about it therefore, a social worker plays a big role in providing survivors with support and safety during the reporting process. 

“How crisis reporting, and trauma support services react to sexual assault and abuse can have a profound impact on empowering survivors and encouraging other survivors to tell their story. Moreover, survivors need to feel confident in the criminal justice system and reducing barriers to reporting is fundamental to ending GBVF in South Africa,” says Ngcobo.

Making a difference towards addressing GBVF requires a collective effort and cannot be accomplished in a one-dimensional approach. It is an undertaking in which even the smallest action makes a significant contribution, cutting across many social, economic, political, environmental, and cultural factors. 

In scaling the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges this year, teams could look at achieving remarkable results with streamlining departmental reporting processes, adopting technology and trialling various innovations that lead to an overall strengthened GBV response and support system.

RELEASE DATE: June 2023

The recent release of quarter four crime statistics by Minister Bheki Cele has reinforced the urgent need to implement effective strategies to address gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa. For the reporting period (January to March 2023) a total of 10 512 rapes were reported and 969 women were murdered. One of the effective strategies that South Africa will continue to see in 2023 are the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges and this year courts and municipalities will be setting ambitious targets and working collaboratively to address GBVF.

“A 4.35% decrease in sexual offences in quarter four is a shift in the right direction, however with the more than ten thousand rape cases reported, the work done to address GBVF needs to accelerate rapidly,” says Sixolile Ngcobo from the End GBVF Collective. “We are very excited to be working with 45 courts and municipalities who will be starting their 100-Day journey. So far, we have 25 courts and 20 municipalities who have signed up and started preparations for the 100-Day Challenge journey” 

The 100-Day Challenges proved to be a highly effective model to address GBVF within communities in 2021 and 2022. In 11 courts, the backlog of domestic violence protection orders was reduced by 98% in 100 days. By creating safer spaces and repairing streetlights, the team in Frances Baard District managed to reduce reported cases of sexual offences by 45% in two wards. At the end of their 100-Day project, the team in Matjhabeng in the Free State, increased the referral of new GBV cases by 250%, translating to 1092 survivors accessing psychosocial services in a single month. “In 2023 we will be scaling up the 100-Day Challenges and building on these results,” shares Ngcobo.

“The idea behind involving courts in the 100-Day Challenges is to support the justice system in improving the finalisation of GBVF-related cases, reducing backlog of GBVF cases, using technology to speed up processes and improve access to justice, to mention a few. Our realisation is that by involving municipalities, we can identify plans to create safer public spaces, generate a greater level of awareness of GBVF and provide a greater level of support for GBVF survivors including increasing opportunities for economic empowerment ,” adds Ngcobo.

The End GBVF 100-Day Challenges are characterised by ambitious impact goals to address GBVF, intense collaboration between stakeholders, rapid innovation and implementation of the 100-day teams’ work plans, and sustained action to ensure that a new and better way of doing things becomes the new norm. Each 100-Day team will be working on an impact indicator associated with a pillar of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF. The process will be facilitated by local conveners and Ambassadors trained by the programme team on the 100-Day Challenge methods.

“We are very encouraged to see the interest and high energy from the courts and municipalities that have signed up so far,” says Ngcobo. “Starting their 100-Day journey, teams will undergo the End GBVF 100-Day Challenge orientation. The next phase is a leadership design workshop where the local team leaders from the court or municipality will shape the challenge for the team and create an enabling environment to innovate and learn. This approach sets the standard that has led to impressive results that make a big impact towards addressing GBVF.”

RELEASE DATE: 03 May 2023

The End GBVF Collective 100-Day Challenges in 2022 saw seven teams take on very ambitious challenges to address gender-based violence and femicide in their communities. A 98% reduction in the backlog for domestic violence protection orders and 37% increase in reporting rape cases; these are two examples of the impact that the 100-Day Challenges had in 2022. For this year, the End GBVF collective will be launching the 100-Day Challenges in 45 courts and municipalities in South Africa to extend this impact on a local level.

Participating in the 100-Day Challenges, teams set ambitious goals that they need to achieve in 100 days, whether it is reducing the backlog of domestic violence protection orders, increasing the reporting of rape incidents, or embarking on a door-to-door GBV awareness campaign. These were some of the initiatives that resulted in sustained organisational action towards ending GBVF.

The end-GBVF 100-Day Challenges in 2023 will focus on a variety of issues, including improving access and speed and quality of resolution of GBVF-related court cases, prevention of GBV in schools and the workplace, and integrated crisis response and post-crisis care for victims of gender-based violence. 

“In 2022 we piloted the 100-Day Challenges and saw some exciting results and unprecedented levels of collaboration among the organisations involved,” says Sixolile Ngcobo from the End GBVF Collective. “For 2023 we are inviting all courts and municipalities to participate in the 100-Day Challenges to end GBVF. The plan for 2023 is to scale the 100-Days Challenges on a regional and local level.”

Last year teams that participated in the 100-Day Challenges achieved some impressive results. In eleven courts across South Africa the backlog of domestic violence protection orders was reduced by 98%. In Greater Tzaneen, the reporting of rape cases increased by 37% compared to the previous year. The withdrawal of rape cases also dropped by 70%. In Mangaung, the finalisation of maintenance cases increased from 50% to 74%, reducing the backlog by 82%. At the end of the 100-Day Challenge in Bloemfontein, the team and the local leaders were so excited about the results that were achieved that they decided to engage six more courts to do their own 100-Day Challenges. 

“The 100-Day Challenges have proven to be a very effective way to implement the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF with each team focusing on a challenge that falls under one of the NSP’s pillars,” says Ngcobo. “Each team will be made up of court and municipal officials and will have team leaders and ambassadors to monitor progress on their challenge. Teams will also attend various workshops throughout the 100 days to assess progress on their goal and to re-adjust their strategies if necessary.”

The 2023 100-Day Challenges is organised by the End GBVF Collective in support from the Ford Foundation, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and the justice sector. Applications are open for municipalities and courts to get help organising their own 100-Day Challenges. 

“If you are a municipal leader, a prosecutor, or a judge, please bring this opportunity to the rest of your leadership team and encourage them to apply,” shares Ngcobo.