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The crucial mandate for any state is that learners attain their education in a safe learning environment. Learners’ access to a high-quality, inclusive, equitable education, and their capacity are jeopardised by the pervasive gender-based violence in and around schools. This paper aims to investigate the impact of gender-based violence on girls in the selected secondary schools in Limpopo Province of South Africa. From the qualitative standpoint, coupled with the case study research design, this study used a purposive sample to select 15 (n = 15) participants. Data were collected through literature reviews and the application of semi-structured Key Informant Interviews and analysed using Thematic Analysis. The findings of this study include (i) low school performance, (ii) learners who are dropping out, (iii) learners’ inability to exercise their human rights and their right to an education, (iv) lack of a well-resourced and strong criminal justice system, and (v) an intervention team to address the impact of gender-based violence on girls. This study concludes that gender-based violence should be taught as a subject in schools to address the persistent issue in South Africa for learners to understand abuse and violation in the future. This paper recommends that all stakeholders in our society—civil, social workers, and law enforcement authorities—collaborate more closely than they currently do to end gender-based violence against schoolgirls.

Gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) is a multifaceted complex phenomenon that needs urgent comprehensive attention in South Africa and other similarly or worse-off affected countries. Central to combating and eliminating GBVF starts with a systematic understanding of the drivers of GBVF. The research aims to develop a conceptual framework of drivers of gender-based violence and femicide, which can be applied to different GVBF improvement studies. The conceptual framework was developed using ecological system theory having 20 indicators relating to: microsystem – personal history and individual factors; mesosystem – interpersonal relationships; exosystem – community factors; macrosystem – societal factors; and chronosystem – significant changes over time. The framework interlinking these GBVF drivers allows for the diagnosis of the main drivers of GBVF and estimates its impact on the victims and their families. This, in turn, can help to combat and eliminate GBVF through moderation with GBVF policies and strategies. This study contributes to systematically demystifying of drivers of GBVF, especially in South Africa and similar African countries.

The study investigates the relationship between masculinities, narcissism, and gender-based violence (GBV) among Congolese male refugees in Durban, South Africa. The research uses a qualitative approach and 25 in-depth interviews to identify major themes. Results show that Congolese male refugees reinforce their masculinities through narcissistic behaviors, which contribute to GBV. Societal stakeholders in Durban should be involved in addressing GBV prevention initiatives to hinder men's narcissistic attitudes and beliefs. Recognizing a partner's depth can help reduce GBV by recognizing the positive attention they expect from them.

South Africa has been battling the scourge of the COVID-19 Pandemic which has negatively affected many individuals and families. The South African government imposed a national lockdown to mitigate the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the lockdown also brought more challenges such as increased violence cases. Against this background, this study sought to analyse the COVID-19 lockdown and domestic violence in South Africa. A non-empirical research design was used where documents from search engines such as Google scholar, EBSCOhost and ProQuest were sampled and reviewed using keywords and phrases related to COVID-19, lockdown and domestic violence to filter relevant data, restricted to 2002-2022. The inductive Thematic Content Analysis (TCA) was used to analyze the collected data. Findings reveal that the South African Lockdown has contributed to the rise of domestic violence cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results further indicate that victims of domestic violence face psychosocial challenges due to domestic violence. Programs that are aimed at creating awareness and empowering victims of domestic violence are recommended by this study. It is further recommended that policies protecting citizens against domestic violence be reviewed and strengthened.