Why reporting on gender based violence can never stop

Gender-based violence means that women and children are the victims of it. There is an onslaught in this country, and the Eastern Cape is not spared.

We, as journalists, are at the forefront when we report on these crimes.

The numbers are so high that we could forgive our readers if they said: “Just another case, what makes this news? Do we have to read about it?”

And there are people who feel that by covering these crimes we are doing nothing to  lift the spirit of the nation.

But the truth has to be told.

Asking victims to explain what happened to them and hearing their responses is something that lives with you for a long time afterwards.

But this week, when I reported on five people who died in a house fire in the small town of Seymour, allegedly started by a jealous boyfriend, I did not have the opportunity to ask them what had happened. This was even more devastating.

The chance to hear from them, including a five-month-old baby, is gone forever.

The reality is that it is unlikely that any woman you know in SA has not been, or is not going to be, a victim of some degree of gender-based violence.

Journalists are duty-bound to tell their stories, but it often seems that their voices are lost in history. Because there are so many cases, the horrific experiences of individuals or groups get drowned; they no longer seem to matter. But their families and friends are desperate for closure. At the very least, they need to make some sense out of what happened to the person they loved.

It is true that men can be victims of gender-based violence. But  these accounts are few and far between compared with the thousands of women and children for whom beatings —or worse — have become the daily norm.

At the site of the razed house in Seymour,  Eastern Cape social development MEC Siphokazi Lusithi was clearly moved. She said women at risk from abusive spouses should be able to walk away to somewhere safe while they could still walk.

She said they should be able to exit relationships the minute they saw any sign of abuse.

She was firm on what police should do when a complaint was filed, saying they should never doubt a woman who is reporting abuse, and should act immediately.

As journalists, we will report on stories like these as long they keep happening. We draw no pleasure from reporting on them. But we cannot turn away. Before something can be done about the monsters who prey on our women and children, the nation has to be informed about it.