GBV Declared a National Disaster - In other Crises We Restrict Alcohol – This One Cannot Be Different

Rethink Your Drink welcomes the announcement that gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) will be classified as a national disaster in South Africa. This is a long overdue acknowledgement of a crisis that women, children and communities have carried for years.

If we are to massively reduce GBVF in South Africa, we need to address both the societal attitudes that permit it and the immediate factors that fuel it. 

In almost every other national emergency, alcohol is one of the first things government restricts. During COVID-19, complete bans on alcohol sales led to dramatic drops in trauma cases and violent injuries in hospitals. When roads are unsafe over long weekends, authorities launch special operations focused on drunk driving. When there is unrest, curfews and alcohol controls are quickly introduced. South Africa knows that reducing excessive alcohol consumption is an emergency lever – and its role in GBV must be treated with the same urgency.

The scale of violence is devastating. SAPS crime statistics show that between April 2023 and March 2024, 5 578 women and 1 656 children were killed, and 42 569 rape cases were reported – roughly 116 reported rapes every day, with estimates that up to 95% of rape cases may never be reported at all. Global data indicate that in 2023 around 1.3 women per 100 000 were killed by an intimate partner or relative worldwide, while South African research found a rate of 5.5 per 100 000 during the first year of COVID-19 – around four times the global average..

Survey data confirms the depth of the crisis. According to SADHS 2016, 65% of women whose partners are often drunk have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence from that partner, compared with 13% when the partner does not drink at all.

COVID-19 provided painful but powerful evidence of just how strong this link is. A major South African study found a 63% decrease in femicides during periods of complete alcohol prohibition compared with periods of no alcohol restrictions – and femicides rose again when alcohol sales were relaxed. Hospital studies showed 59–69% reductions in trauma cases during complete alcohol bans, with cases spiking again when alcohol was brought back. These are not abstract numbers; they show that when alcohol is controlled, fewer women are attacked, fewer people are injured and fewer families get the midnight call that changes everything.

“Alcohol legislation will not end gender-based violence on its own. But without stronger alcohol laws, we cannot meaningfully reduce the harm. This is one of the most powerful and immediate levers available to government. If we ignore alcohol, we ignore a core driver of the violence tearing through our communities,” says Kashifa Ancer, Campaign Manager for Rethink Your Drink.

If South Africa is serious about treating GBVF as a national disaster, evidence-based alcohol policy reform, backed by the World Health Organization has to be part of the core response. That includes:

• Making alcohol less affordable through stronger excise taxes and Minimum Unit Pricing, especially for the cheapest, strongest products.
• Reducing availability by limiting trading hours, curbing outlet density in residential areas and around schools, and enforcing licensing conditions.
• Restricting alcohol marketing and sponsorship, particularly where it targets young people and normalises heavy drinking in sport, entertainment and everyday life.

These are practical, measurable interventions with a strong evidence base for reducing harmful drinking and alcohol-related violence.

Rethink Your Drink therefore calls on national, provincial and local government to use the GBV national disaster declaration as a trigger for urgent alcohol policy reform. South Africa has already shown, in other crises, that when we restrict alcohol, we save lives. GBV is no different – and women and children cannot afford for this disaster to be treated as an exception.