Enhlanzeni district municipality, in partnership with PHEPHA (Be Safe) Africa, have developed an app for victims of gender-based violence (GBV) to report their cases. 

The app will be made available free of charge with trained social auxiliary moderators to assist and assess incoming calls made by GBV victims.

Enhlanzeni district municipality Mayor Jester Sidell said the app was a way of joining the many voices that are speaking out against GBV.

“There are instances where you find that victims report their cases to the police and attending court cases, but you find that they don’t have sufficient evidence for the court. Today we are saying that this app will enable victims to record an incidence of the violence that they are confronted with, so that in future when they report such cases, we hope and believe that such evidence can be permitted in our court, where a video or a recording can be played; evidence that can be really considered when these cases are being heard,” Sidell said.

Sidell also said that they have further partnered with the Department of Home Affairs, the South Africa Police Service (SAPS) as well as the Department of Social Development, which will allow the app to communicate with the SAPS database to fast-track the process of capturing cases.

The app will also avail a platform every Wednesday for discussion about GBV.

“We will be having a panel discussion where we have invited the SAPS and they will be sharing the GBV statistics that are being recorded and any advances in terms of having successful cases where people are taken to prison for what they have done. We have also invited to the panel discussion, the Department of Social Development,” Sidell said, adding that women should be partners in resuscitating the economy instead of being abused.