
GBV epidemic Study exposes system failures
A study in the Eastern Cape Town of Matatiele revealed that survivors faced greater barriers to police, hospitals and support services during the pandemic.
Social workers also struggled to provide care, highlighting gaps in the country's emergency response systems.
To discuss this further, we're joined by Dr Marinei Herselman from the University of Fort Hare's Department of Social Work and Master's Student, Bongeka Zawani.

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eNCA
a day ago
- eNCA
GBV epidemic Study exposes system failures
JOHANNESBURG - New research in South Africa shows that COVID-19 lockdown measures worsened gender-based violence, trapping many survivors in abusive homes with limited access to help. A study in the Eastern Cape Town of Matatiele revealed that survivors faced greater barriers to police, hospitals and support services during the pandemic. Social workers also struggled to provide care, highlighting gaps in the country's emergency response systems. To discuss this further, we're joined by Dr Marinei Herselman from the University of Fort Hare's Department of Social Work and Master's Student, Bongeka Zawani.

TimesLIVE
3 days ago
- TimesLIVE
Don't panic about new SARS-CoV-2 variant, experts say
Covid-19 has largely dropped out of the headlines, but the virus that causes it is still circulating. We ask what we should know about a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, the state of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2025 and the lack of access to updated vaccines in South Africa. In the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Sandringham, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) bears a deceptive façade. Do not be fooled by its sleepy campus, clustered face brick buildings and shade cloth parking; this government facility is home to state-of-the-art biosafety laboratories and some of South Africa's top virologists, microbiologists and epidemiologists. Here, 71 scientists are tasked daily with laboratory-based disease surveillance to protect the country from pathogen outbreak events. On March 5 2020, then health minister Zweli Mkhize announced South Africa's first Covid‑19 infection at an NICD press briefing. At the time, the NICD was an obscure acronym for many, but that quickly changed as the institution became central to the country's pandemic response. While the Covid-19 pandemic may have waned, the NICD hasn't stopped monitoring. That is because there remains a global public health risk associated with Covid-19. The World Health Organisation (WHO) states: 'There has been evidence of decreasing impact on human health throughout 2023 and 2024 compared with 2020-2023, driven mainly by: high levels of population immunity, achieved through infection, vaccination or both; similar virulence of currently circulating JN.1 sublineages of the SARS-CoV-2 virus compared with previously circulating Omicron sublineages; and the availability of diagnostic tests and improved clinical case management. SARS-CoV-2 circulation nevertheless continues at considerable levels in many areas, as indicated in regional trends, without any established seasonality and with unpredictable evolutionary patterns.' Thus, while SARS-CoV-2 is still circulating, it is clearly not making remotely as many people ill or claiming nearly as many lives as it did four years ago. Asked about this, Foster Mohale, spokesperson for the national health department, said 'there are no reports of people getting severely sick and dying due to Covid-19 in South Africa now'. Variant under monitoring As SARS-CoV-2 circulates, it continues to mutate. The WHO recently designated variant NB.1.8.1 as a new variant under monitoring. There is however no reason for alarm.


Eyewitness News
3 days ago
- Eyewitness News
Mabuza remembered for taking even controversial matters in his stride
CAPE TOWN - Former Deputy President David Mabuza's time in Parliament will be remembered for taking even controversial matters in his stride. Mabuza died on Thursday, aged 64. As the leader of government business, he was expected to crack the whip on errant ministers who did not answer members of Parliament (MPs) questions in time, or failed to show up at committee meetings. But after five years in the house, Mabuza resigned on his own terms. He was last seen in Parliament in February, when he attended the State of the Nation Address (SONA) held in the Cape Town City Hall. The former deputy president was first sworn in as an MP in early 2018, at a controversial time in the African National Congress (ANC)'s history, as the deputy to President Cyril Ramaphosa. Mabuza's interaction with Parliament was largely through quarterly question time in both houses. From his very first question-and-answer session, Mabuza seldom appeared rattled by the tough questions, even when quizzed about political assassinations in his home province of Mpumalanga. 'We must avoid a situation where we go around casting aspersions against people without any due process.' Mabuza was also quick to defend his party comrades when their conduct put them on the wrong side of the law. 'We don't have a dustbin where we throw people. We correct people. We move with them.' READ: Ramaphosa remembers late former Deputy President Mabuza as a leader grounded activism His leave of absence from official duty and his hospitalisation in Russia in 2021 also did not escape Parliamentary interrogation. 'I've covered the costs of my treatment, the travelling, 100%. No money was paid by the South African government towards my treatment.' During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mabuza would mostly communicate with Parliament from a virtual platform, always positioned in front of the national flag. When the writing was on the wall that he planned to step down in early 2023, it was Ramaphosa who confirmed the reports during the SONA debate, raising a glass of water from the podium to salute him. 'I would like to thank him for the work he's done for this nation, and for all of us…..DP, cheers!'