South Africa Declared Gender-Based Violence A National Disaster. But How Will Frontline Workers Be Kept Safe?

(MENAFN- The Conversation) Social workers are often the first to arrive at scenes of gender-based violence and femicide. They often enter unsafe homes without backup or protective equipment. As one told me:

This everyday risk is seldom acknowledged. Yet it sits at the centre of a country's response to its crisis of violence.

South Africa has some of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world. Femicide is the murder of girls and women and in South Africa it's nearly five times the global average. The country's police recently recorded more than 10,000 rape cases in one quarter. These are reported cases; many never report rape.

The government has now invoked the Disaster Management Act to classify gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster. Previously, the country has used this legislation to respond to natural and public health emergencies like droughts, floods and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more: Violence against women is staggeringly high in South Africa – a different way of thinking about it is needed

Using it for a social crisis marks a significant shift: the declaration allows faster coordination across departments, accelerated resource allocation and emergency measures that would not otherwise be possible.

Yet a critical aspect of the crisis remains almost invisible in public debate: the people tasked with responding to incidents who themselves face violence, fear and chronic stress.

Social workers, community workers and other practitioners must mediate conflict in small, overcrowded rooms. They must comfort distressed children and try to stabilise volatile situations long before police or emergency teams arrive. Most undertake these visits without protective gear, without an escort and without consistent safety protocols.

My research into the problem, as a social work academic, makes it clear that South Africa cannot reduce gender-based violence and femicide without acknowledging this reality: its frontline workforce is absorbing the immediate impact of the crisis.

No national response can succeed while the people holding the system together remain unprotected.

What gender-based violence and femicide response looks like

Referrals come from neighbours, schools, clinics, community forums and emergency rooms. Once a referral is made, it's assigned to a social worker or similar practitioner through the provincial Department of Social Development or a designated child protection organisation. A risk assessment must be conducted within the home. These visits take place in formal or informal settlements, backyard dwellings or rural homesteads.

Safety is unpredictable. Research describes social workers being threatened, shouted at or prevented from leaving homes during visits. A recent media report recorded 54 attacks on social workers in a single year in South Africa.

Under the Children's Act and the Domestic Violence Act, practitioners can't decline to investigate a case of suspected abuse or refuse to enter a home.

One social worker described it this way:

A gendered crisis meets a gendered workforce

Gender-based violence and femicide is shaped by unequal, gendered power. Women make up the majority of care-sector employees. In the public health system, 78% of the workforce is female. Women form a significant share of the social services workforce.

Read more: Rape within marriage is still silenced in South Africa – why women are being failed

Studies show that women practitioners face higher rates of threats, intimidation and physical aggression than men when intervening in domestic violence and child protection cases.

These risks emerge from longstanding gender expectations and power dynamics, particularly in spaces where a woman's authority is resisted or seen as a threat. One social worker told me about the hostility she encountered from a man referred as possibly abusive:

So, violence against social workers is part of the same problem. But policy discussions focus on survivors, rarely on the women who enter dangerous homes to protect them.

Emotional cost

Physical danger is only part of their burden. Frontline workers also carry the emotional weight of repeated exposure to violence. Research shows high rates of secondary trauma, burnout, anxiety and moral distress among professionals who work with abused women and children.

In South Africa, the strain is intensified by high caseloads, chronic staff shortages and uneven access to supervision or structured debriefing. The country has fewer than half the social workers it needs.

When workers are overwhelmed or fearful, case progression slows. Children stay longer in unsafe homes. Survivors wait for help.

As one social worker said:

Staff resign from exhaustion, leaving critical posts unfilled for months. This weakens departments already under strain and increases the workload on those who remain, creating a cycle of burnout.

The success of any national gender-based violence and femicide strategy rests on the wellbeing of the frontline.

The declaration creates an opportunity

The South African Council for Social Service Professions has long emphasised safe working conditions, ethical practice and adequate supervision. These are not administrative preferences. They are essential safeguards.

Yet South Africa's safety measures remain uneven. Protocols differ between provinces. Access to psychosocial support is inconsistent. Many practitioners have come to rely on personal coping strategies.

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The national disaster declaration offers a chance to change this by enabling faster coordination and targeted investment.

Evidence shows that well-designed safety systems reduce harm to workers and lead to better outcomes for survivors. Australia's response uses joint risk assessment and multi-agency teams to protect both victims and practitioners. Reforms in New Zealand's system highlight the importance of structured supervision and clear safety planning. Norway uses collaborative, cross-professional teams to manage domestic violence cases and reduce frontline risks.

South Africa can draw on these examples. But that requires political will, coordinated planning and sustained investment.

Why this moment matters

Declaring gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster is an important step. But declarations do not protect women, children or frontline workers. The country now has an opportunity to redesign its response system.

Read more: Women and kids often pay a heavy price when men drink. Our gender violence plan should reflect this

Protecting frontline workers is central to reducing violence. If South Africa protects those who protect others, every part of the response strengthens. If it does not, the cracks already visible on the frontline will widen – and the people who need protection most will feel the consequences first.

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