How the Pandemic is Fueling Gender-Based Violence

JOSINA MACHEL, DAUGHTER OF GRACE MACHEL, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVOR: Christiane, the truth is that domestic violence has spiked, indeed, or we’ve got more cases being recorded during this period. But, as you know, South Africa has already horrendous numbers of women reporting gender-based violence through rape, beating and the highest level of femicide in the world. So, what corona has done is really driven the concentration, the attention of people in general to realize the horrors of gender-based violence, but it is not a problem that has come solely because of gender-based violence, and it is something that we still have to deal with adequately in the future.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Josina, I mentioned a little bit about your own traumatic experience. Tell us what happened to you, and what was the result in terms of accountability, law enforcement, the courts?

MACHEL: I was brutally attacked by my then-partner, Rofino Licuco, on October 17, 2015. I received two blows, one to the middle of my face, one to my right eye which blinded me immediately, and a third one to the back of my head. At that point, I run away from the car, and eventually he did pick me up and took me to the hospital. At the hospital, I endured what is called second victimization with a treatment that was given to me was extremely poor. Later on, we discovered that my files in the hospitals, my file in the police, had disappeared. By the time we actually got to court, something like 18 months later, myself and my lawyer and the team had already resorted to making three to five copies of each document, before we actually presented in order to ensure that it never disappeared. And so, eventually, we did get the verdict of guilt. He was found guilty. And, unfortunately, a few weeks ago, a higher court of appeal has absolved him of the crime of gender-based violence.