From Wednesday 2 December, women and other victims of domestic violence in South Africa are able to contact the National Shelter Movement of South Africa’s (NSMSA) 24-hour toll-free Shelter Helpline. This is the first national helpline exclusively dedicated to helping victims of domestic abuse access shelter services in each of the nine provinces, while also assisting with a variety of...Continue reading
The National Shelter Movement of South Africa (NSMSA) is excited to announce that it will soon launch its own 24-hour toll-free shelter helpline – the first helpline dedicated only to issues of domestic and intimate partner violence – in an effort to get more women to the safety of shelters, away from their abuser. This week, the team of social...
PRESS RELEASE 20 AUGUST 2020 THE NATIONAL SHELTER MOVEMENT CALLS FOR THE PRESIDENT TO ADDRESS FUNDING OF WOMEN’S ABUSE SHELTERS
Attention: President Cyril Ramaphosa Minister for Women Minister of Social Development 20 August 2020 RE: NATIONAL SHELTER MOVEMENT CALLS ON THE PRESIDENT TO INTERVENE AND URGENTLY ADDRESS MURDEROUS FUNDING ISSUES WITH WOMEN’S SHELTERS
While South Africans are stockpiling and preparing for a 21-day countrywide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, for some, isolating at home presents additional risks, on top of avoiding possible CoVid-19 infection. According to the National Shelter Movement of South Africa (NSM) one of its main concerns is the potential for increased violence against women and children, who...Continue reading
South Africa has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence, but its shelters are battling to stay afloat – and government departments have been slow to explain why, writes New Frame journalist, Zandile Bangani.Continue reading
This research paper highlights weaknesses in police responses to victims of domestic violence by reviewing call logs documenting requests for assistance at three-hundred eighty-two (382) police stations across the country. The data emanates from research conducted by the Heinrich Boell Foundation (HBF) and the Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre (TLAC) in Gauteng and the Western Cape in 2012 and 2013, and...
Women activists who have been conducting countrywide protests since the peak in femicide and violence against women in September have released an appeal to the government to use a portion of the additional funding set aside by President Cyril Ramaphosa to increase and strengthen shelters for abused women and children, writes Moira Levy.Continue reading
This publication is the final in a series of reports that the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the National Shelter Movement of South Africa have produced in relation to their ‘Enhancing State Responsiveness to Gender Based Violence (GBV): Paying the True Costs’ project’. GBV, and to be more specific, intimate partner violence (IPV), is a significant contributing factor to many women’s...Continue reading
This publication is the fifth in a series of provincial studies describing women’s uses of shelters undertaken by the HBF and the National Shelter Movement of SA’s EU-supported ‘Enhancing State Responsiveness to GBV: Paying the True Costs’ project. It builds on and extends these prior reports by attending to all women, rather than focusing only on those experiencing intimate partner...Continue reading