South Africa has been recorded as having one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the world. In 2012, just over one-third of violent crimes committed against women ended in criminal prosecution. Legislation has been passed to help improve the quality of life for victims of abuse and to prevent further abuse from taking place. Although the movement against domestic violence is a relatively new movement, it has been making great strides in the country since the 1990s.

Domestic violence The South African Domestic Violence Act 1998 defines domestic violence as: Physical abuse; sexual abuse; emotional, verbal and psychological abuse; economic abuse; intimidation; harassment; stalking; damage to property; entry into the complainant's residence without consent, where the parties do not share the same residence; or any other controlling or abusive behaviour towards a complainant, where such conduct harms, or may cause imminent harm to, the safety, health or wellbeing of the complainant.Bendall, Charlotte. "The Domestic Violence Epidemic in South Africa: Legal and Practical Remedies." Women's Studies 39 (2010): 100–18. Print.

Background The South African Medical Council released a study in 1998 saying that out of the 1,394 men interviewed, 50% physically abused their female partners at their homes.Jewkes, Rachel, Jonathan Levin, and Loveday Penn-Kekana. "Risk factors for Domestic violence: findings from a South African cross-sectional study." Social Science & Medicine 55 (2002): 1603–17. Print. Considering how recently domestic violence has come to light, it is still considered an early movement. The United Nations found that violence against women was a universal problem. Another study done in 2010 found that a majority of men and over half of women that were surveyed believed that women should obey their husbands.Breetzke, G.D. "Understanding the magnitude and extent of crime in post-apartheid South Africa." Social Identities 18.3 (2012): 299–315. Print. It is not uncommon for the abuse to begin while the girls are still teenagers.Wood, K., Maforah, F., & Jewkes, R. (1998). 'He forced me to love him': putting violence on the adolescent sexual health agenda. Social Science and Medicine, 47, 233–242. It is not uncommon for women to tolerate the abuse they are receiving because it is such a common practice in South Africa.Wood, K., Jewkes, R. (2001). 'Dangerous' love: reflections on violence among Xhosa township youth. In R. Morrell (Ed.). Changing men in Southern Africa. University of Natal Press: Pietermaritzburgand Zed Books Ltd, London.

Understanding the prevalence of domestic violence in South Africa requires understanding how it the topic viewed and discussed in the country. Gender based violence is often under-reported, and when it is reported, victim blaming is common. Reporters and newspapers use suggestive syntax such as "headlines that read ‘a woman has been raped’ rather than stating ‘a man has raped a woman’". The justice system is also known to be biased against women due to common social expectations of men exerting power over women in both public and private spheres. A study surveyed 10,000 people in South Africa on gender based violence and the statistics show the staggering imbalance in power between men and women. The study reported 70% of men believing women should obey their husbands, 15% of men believing a husband has "the right to “punish” his wife for wrongdoings", and 23% of men reporting a wife should never be allowed to refuse sex with her husband. This study reinforces a lot of traditional gender norms that are prevalent globally. However, efforts to combat this epidemic of violence are being made by the South African government, for example legal actions listed below such as the 2024 National Council on Gender-Based and Femicides is a large step made to try and prevent these types of statistics from rising.

Prevalence In a study done by the World Health Organization, it was found that 60,000 women and children are victims of domestic violence in South Africa. It is hard to gather accurate statistical data in South Africa because domestic violence is rarely reported. On average, in a cross-sectional study conducted in 2002, the women who were abused came from a lower secondary education and were unemployed. The same study indicated that 9.5 percent of women reported being abused within the past year (working back from 2002); in some areas of the country it rose to 28.4 percent of women who reported being abused. In 2013, 50 percent of the women surveyed reported that they had suffered emotional and verbal abuse. Of the women who were in violent relationships, 45.9 percent of them reported injury. In the same study it was found that typically the women who do witness and feel the violence come from a rural childhood compared to those raised in an urban area. Although there are many places that do offer help to those suffering from domestic violence, those resources are more available in urban areas. In rural areas it is harder to access proper resources. Nearly half of the female murders that happened in 1999 in South Africa resulted from domestic violence.

In the first ever study conducted by the South African Human Sciences Research Council in 2024, entitled "National Gender-Based Violence Prevalence Study", all nine provinces of South Africa were studied and the findings revealed that there are racial associations in who experiences more violence. The study reported that Black South African women were more likely to experience physical violence with 35.5% of these women having already experienced it. There were also social factors that affected people who were more likely to experience sexual violence. Married women were least likely to experience sexual violence but still 8.5% had and women who cohabited together, but were not married, were more likely to with 14.9% having experienced it. However, cohabiting unmarried women were extremely likely to experience physical violence with 43.4% experiencing it.

Recent research has found there are socio-cultural factors that are connected to partner violence. For example, binge drinking was associated with intimate partner violence perpetration and problematic alcohol use can be a predictor of intimate partner violence and domestic violence. Additionally, men with a history of exposure to violence were more likely to have difficulty with self-control as it relates to violence towards a partner in certain situations compared to men without a history of exposure to violence.Teitelman AM, Bellamy SL, Jemmott JB 3rd, Icard L, O'Leary A, Ali S, Ngwane Z, Makiwane M. Childhood sexual abuse and sociodemographic factors prospectively associated with intimate partner violence perpetration among South African heterosexual men. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2017;51(2):170-178

Rape and Sexually Transmitted Diseases

In 2012 South Africa was called the "rape capital of the world" when less than 1% of rapes that occur are reported to the police. The South African Medical Research Council did an electronic anonymous survey, interviewing just over 1,700 men, that found that one in four males had raped; 73% of those men surveyed had raped before the age of 20. In the first quarter of 2022, a police report found that there had been 10,818 rape cases reported in merely three months. More than half of these rape cases took place in the victim's home and in most cases the rapist was someone the victim knew. It is also important to note that these statistics don't accurately represent the number of rapes in South Africa in quarter one of 2022, because many cases go completely unreported, meaning these numbers are an underestimation.

South Africa also holds one of the highest rates for HIV. This rate is attributed to a multitude of biosocial factors such as lack of condom use, multiple sex partners and power imbalances between genders. The National Library of Medicine conducted a study that reported 231,000 new cases of HIV in 2017 alone. 121,900 of those were female cases and 109,200 were male. The National Library of Medicine also reported 7.9 million people in South Africa living with HIV. This epidemic is stimulated by adolescents being involved in age inappropriate relations, which are distinguished as "age-disparate relationships" usually between young women and older men. These relations are perpetuated by gender norms and power dynamics prevalent in Africa, such as patriarchal views of gender roles.

In Limpopo, a team of researches traveled to rural villages to implement a three-part trial to test if intervention within relationships that had domestic violence and/ or HIV prevalence in the home. The homes where the researchers just assisted with the proautogenerated1blems of domestic violence were able to reduce the prevalence by 55%, but did not effect those who had unprotected sexual intercourse with a non-spousal partner. Although the rate of domestic violence within these small villages did get reduced; the rate of those having unprotected intercourse after being exposed, and diagnosed with HIV, did not go down.

According to a report by the U.N., South Africa had one of the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world in 2009.

Legal actions Until South Africa established non-racial democracy in the 1990s, no law to define domestic violence or protect those who are victims of domestic violence ever existed.Usdin, Shereen, et al. "The Value of Advocacy in Promoting Social Change: Implementing the New Domestic Violence Act in South Africa." Reproductive Health Matters 8.16 (2000): 55-67. Print. Within South Africa, the 1996 Constitution says in section 12c that: "Everyone has the right to freedom and security of person, that includes the right to be free from violence from either public and private sources." The constitution also takes time to highlight that South Africa is based on "non-sexism" values.

Many successful policies have been put in place to help, mostly women, find help escape or refuge from the violence. Human rights throughout the world have viewed sexual violence as a negative situation. After the United Nations held multiple human rights conventions (including the World Conference on Human Rights (1993), International Conference on Population and Development (1994), and the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995) the global agenda for violence against women changed.Carrillo, R. "Overview of inter nation human rights standards and other Agreements and responses of judicial system to violence against women.” International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 78 (2002): 15-20. Print. The advocacy group Soul City broadcast a show on TV and radio in 1995 that highlighted the issues associated with domestic violence. Soul City, along with the National Network on Violence against Women, set up a 24-hour crisis telephone line to help vulnerable women who are struggling with domestic violence.

Domestic Violence Act