FOLLOWING the tragic and fatal shooting of a woman two weeks ago, I feel compelled to address, yet again, the scourge of domestic violence, which plagues our society and invariably leads to the death of our women.

I also wish to censure the security agency where the shooter was employed for not doing a better job of ‘policing’ the movement of their firearms and placing a weapon in the hands of one so young.
A firearm was allegedly handed over to the 20-year-old perpetrator without positive confirmation from a supervisor. Further, the firearm used by the shooter to subsequently harm himself was apparently left unattended by the person to whom it was issued.

Sadly, the young woman, who was shot in the back, was not the person actually sought by the shooter. The man, it seems, wanted to shoot his ex-girlfriend, but ended up shooting her sister.

Despite media attention to incidents of gender-based and domestic violence, both at home and abroad, we still regularly hear of women in this country being attacked by their partners, even when they are no longer in a relationship.
In this case, the woman was attempting to move on with her life – something her ex-partner clearly could not accept – and in a cruel twist of fate her sister was shot in her stead.

The shooter, who attempted to take his own life was critical in hospital but, should he survive, will be facing a murder charge. Nevertheless, he is responsible for the death of yet another female in this awful spectre of violence against women.

This is a global issue and is considered to be “…a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights”, by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which estimates that worldwide l in 3 women have been victims of either physical or sexual violence, or both, by an intimate partner or non-partner in their lifetime.

In addition, almost one-third of the world’s women between 15 – 49 years old have reported physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner.

Even more alarming is the fact that, across the globe, up to 38% of all murders of women are committed by intimate partners, making the bulk of the problem one of intimate partner violence, which the WHO says is preventable.

The organisation says, “The health sector has an important role to play to provide comprehensive health care to women subjected to violence and an entry point for referring women to other support services they may need.”

Medica Mondiale holds the state responsible for preventing violence against women and for providing protection and support for victims, as well as pursuing the perpetrators of these crimes. They prefer to use the term ‘intimate partner violence’ to the term ‘ domestic violence’ because, as in this local case, “the violence is often committed within the wider family or by a former partner.”

However, the Group is critical of patriarchal societies, such as ours and so many more, where “…violence against women is an expression of unequal power relationships between men and women” and the cause of such violence exists at both the structural and individual level.

They add, in a damning statement, that, “Gender justice cannot be established unless misogynist structures are resolved (for) only then will women and girls be able to live free of violence.”

The suggested solution lies in offering training courses for staff in health care and the legal sector to raise awareness, as well as gender-equitable childcare and education, human rights education and a “zero-tolerance” policy on violence.

We as a society also need to stop trivialising violence against women and treating it as a personal issue when it in fact affects us all. We should stand in solidarity with abused women and send a clear message that we are firmly against any form of discrimination or violence against women.