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Reducing and preventing violence is critical to national development and to achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. This policy brief reviews current expenditure on the criminal justice system and what that spend has achieved. It also looks at spending on violence prevention and shows that while South Africa spends over R126 bi...
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Context 1
... can be seen from the above chart, the SAPS receives the lion's share of expenditure on the criminal justice system. Over the past 10 years the SAPS budget has increased by 139.1% (see Figure 2). The additional funding for the SAPS has largely been spent on employing more staff, which was most likely a response to increased public anxiety about crime. ...
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Mega-events have been and are being staged in developing countries and are said to have a legacy impact on development. This trend provides an opportunity to analyse the planning and implementation of three mega-events – in South Africa, India and Brazil – and review the lessons learned regarding their contributions to sustainable development.
Citations
... While universities have made attempts to improve safety through enhanced security measures, such as better lighting and monitoring of campus access, violence continues to be a persistent problem, indicating the inadequacy of these interventions (Davids & Waghid, 2016;Ajayi et al., 2021;Mutongoza, 2023a;Mootz et al., 2019). Calls for further improvements, including the use of advanced security technologies like fingerprint-regulated access, are ongoing (Hassan & Ageed, 2015;Singh & Ramutsheli, 2016;Gould et al., 2017;Grobler, 2018;Mutongoza, 2023b). ...
Globally, universities have traditionally been viewed as sanctuaries of peace, devoid of violence. However, the increase in campus-related violence in South Africa has dispelled this assumption. Recently, there has been a rise in the incidence of murders, violent protests, and self-directed violence at several universities in South Africa, raising alarm among stakeholders in university education. Against this background and underpinned by Sameroff’s Transactional Model of Development, this study set out to explore the psychosocial drivers of violence at three South African universities from the perspectives of students and staff. To achieve this, the study employed a qualitative approach and a multiple case-study design, selecting participants through convenience sampling. Data were collected using semi-structured online interviews with students and lecturers at the three universities. The findings revealed a range of factors, including substance abuse, mental health issues, upbringing and background, and peer influences, as the principal psychosocial factors driving violence at the universities. The study, therefore, concluded that although violence is a complexly interwoven phenomenon, if universities are to reclaim their reputations as peaceful societies, there is an urgent need for all stakeholders in higher education to collaborate and address violence from diverse perspectives.
... Another important example of cooperation was the role of CSOs as a knowledge broker and strengthening the capabilities of other CSOs to use evidence (capacity building), for example, by offering platforms to translate the Diagnostic Review to an accessible set of messages, and co-authoring of a policy brief with government (Gould et al. 2017). In addition, CSO-led forums, such as the Violence Prevention Forum (VPF), provided spaces to foster trusting, respectful and collaborative relationships between the researchers, CSOs and government working on VAWC and to share information and knowledge (Gould 2018). ...
Background: This article is based on a case study research on evidence use in Africa, drawing from four cases to focus on the role of civil society in evidence use. The countries included Benin, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana and sectors included agriculture, violence against women and children, sanitation and wildlife.
Objective: The objective of this article is to discuss emerging lessons from the experiences of engaging civil society in evidence-informed policy-making and practice in different countries and sectors.
Method: This research examined processes enabling and hindering evidence use using a demand (policy) rather than supply (research) perspective. It was guided by an analytical framework using a behaviour change approach to understand the evidence journey. It used a case study approach applying qualitative methods.
Results: The cases show that civil society organisations (CSOs) can make a valuable contribution towards evidence-informed policy and practice through a variety of different roles. They also demonstrate the implications of participation levels and relationship types between government and CSOs as well as within CSOs. The cases equally demonstrate the significance of evidence-informed engagement processes.
Conclusion: Deliberate efforts need to be made to maximise the value and potential of CSOs in evidence-based policy and practice. This includes establishing relationships and trust through dialogue, supported by strong facilitation, knowledge brokering and well-defined
guidelines and incentives. This requires ensuring that the right capabilities are in place for the different actors to engage effectively.
Keywords: Civil society; Evidence use; Evidence-informed policymaking; Sustainable development; Citizen engagement.
Gender-based violence (GBV) is a serious issue that remains highly prevalent in South Africa. However, real-time statistics regarding the number, timing, and location of emergency calls made by victims are limited. Therefore, this study aims to examine the spatial and temporal characteristics of GBV-related emergency calls made to the Help-at-Your-Fingertips (HAYFT) helpline, a national online support centre, from 2020 to 2023. The goal is to identify the regions where these incidents are more frequent and how their incidence is changing over time, particularly concerning social and economic factors and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deidentified data from HAYFT was used and analysed. This study used the time, geographic, and temporal patterns of emergency calls by the GBV victims to the helpline. Descriptive statistics were employed to examine call frequency with respect to region, temporal, and socioeconomic factors, while geographic pattern analysis helped identify the areas with high concentrations of GBV within regions.
Upon examining 53,004 verified calls, it was elucidated that some provinces, such as Limpopo and the North West (104 and 103 calls per 100,000 population), had the highest call rates. Call peaks also occurred in September, November, and December, while call peaks were more likely, though not exclusively associated with public or school holidays, which are thought to be risk periods. Such trends suggest that there are existing limitations in the interpretation of statistics on GBV, which often associate the phenomenon’s incidence and prevalence with certain culture-driven times. Besides, while the number of risk calls in poorer areas was greater, the research also detected significant risk calls coming from higher socio-economic regions, particularly during the pandemic, suggesting wider security risks.
The results illustrate the need for focused and data-informed intervention approaches for victims of gender-based violence. In addition, they suggest that better systems are needed to facilitate monitoring and the timely use of such information for resource and intervention planning. This research serves an important purpose for decision-makers and non-governmental organizations that seek to improve the response to gender-based violence across South Africa.
