The surge in intimate partner violence amid COVID-19pandemic in South Africa

Abstract

It is generally accepted that Gender-based Violence (GBV) is chronically endemic in SouthAfrica. GBV manifests in various forms but are mostly perpetrated by men against women.Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is one of the forms of GBV which has surged exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic because victims are forced by the government lockdownsand restrictions to stay at home and live with their abusive partners. This paper looks at theIPV surge in South Africa in the era of COVID-19 and interventions and measures beingused to tackle, curb and combat the surge. Methodologically, this paper adopts literaturereview approach to address the problem of the surge of IPV and the consequences thereof.To this end, relevant literature was searched and generated from google search platformand the literature generated were retrieved and used to address the problem. The paperfound that there was exponential increase in IPV in South Africa amid COVID-19 pandemic which forced lockdowns and restrictions. The paper accentuates the need to combat IPV byimplementing and straitening ant-IPV strategies and interventions. The paper concludes thatIPV should be tackled head on and that assistance and support should be given to victims inorder to be released from the shackle of the abuser perpetrator.