Unpacking the Dynamics of Gender-Based Violence in the South African Context: A Literature Review

Incontrovertibly, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is a cankerworm that countries in the ubiquitous corners of the globe are struggling to annihilate, South Africa notwithstanding. Although public and political discourses have been dominated by calls for increased interventions to address and mitigate their impacts, these hue-and-cry phenomena have not adequately prevented GBV; hence, there is a need for a more pragmatic analysis of the interventions. This article employed a literature review methodology, drawing on a variety of literature from journal articles, book chapters, and the authors’ personal experiences. The article established that although men are the perpetrators of GBV, women also contribute to the quagmire; Pecuniary factors drive GBV, with most cases of GBV not reported. Further, the unfathomable daily increase in the quagmire attests to the fact that South African society is not winning the battle against gender-based violence, with undocumented evidence about GBV suggesting that females do not feel safe at work, at home, and on the streets. This article recommends an infusion of Indigenous/ traditional ways of dealing with GBV, together with the policies in government. This article contributes to widening the horizon of literature to advance more research in the domain of GBV.