By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, Steve Letsike says podcaster Macgyver “MacG” Mukwevho’s remarks against media personality Minnie Dlamini show the urgent need to deal with online GBV.
In a recent episode of Podcast and Chill, while discussing Dlamini’s break-up from plastic surgeon Dr Brian Monaisa, MacG questioned why the media personality cannot “keep a man” and suggested her private parts could have an unpleasant smell.
Letsike warned that such commentary is not just offensive, but constitutes a form of online gender-based violence as outlined in South Africa’s National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.
“This incident is not a harmless joke or casual banter – it is a harrowing demonstration of online gender-based violence,” she said.
The Deputy Minister expressed disgust at what she described as a pattern of misogynistic behaviour from Mukwevho, adding that multiple women have reportedly initiated legal action against him.
“Women cannot be reduced to vulgar slurs and the objectification of the female body, as this is a damaging reinforcement of gender-based disrespect and consequently violence,” she said.
Referencing South Africa’s painful history of legally sanctioned patriarchy under apartheid, Letsike said, “We hang our heads in shame. We have persons defending Mukwevho’s utterances as correct within the context of a progressive democracy such as ours.”
The Ministry commended the public backlash from some podcast followers and broader South African society.
“We are encouraged that within the ranks of South African society, we have persons who are sober in mind to call out abhorrent tendencies that are a distraction from achieving gender equality,” said Letsike.
Meanwhile HSRC’s first national study on GBV revealed the extent of a crisis that continues to devastate individuals and communities. It also challenges activists, policymakers and communities to confront the systemic inequalities and cultural norms that fuel violence against women and vulnerable groups.
The study, funded by the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), UN Women, the European Union Delegation to the UN, the Ford Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the HSRC, was released and handed over to the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD)on 18 November 2024 and discussed at the annual Science Forum South Africa event.
Drawing from comprehensive data across all nine provinces in South Africa, the study uncovers the prevalence of physical, sexual, emotional and economic violence and psychological abuse such as controlling behaviours among youth and adults 18 years and older.
Dr Nompumelelo Zungu, who presented the study, said that the report also examines the perpetration of violence by men against their partners, as well as the underlying role of gender norms in driving GBV. Dr Zungu is the Strategic Lead in the Public Health, Societies and Belonging Research Division of the HSRC.