Exploring the heuristic value of non-personal data for sexual- and gender-based violence research and prevention in South Africa

Abstract

Research and media reports indicate that most incidents of sexual and gender-based violence
(SGBV) in South Africa, as well as globally, are not reported to the police because of victims’ fears
of retaliation, intimidation, stereotyping, secondary abuse and stigmatisation. As a result, there
is a lack of accurate data available to the South African public and a certain level of ignorance
to the realities of the incidence of SGBV across all sectors of society. The purpose of the study
is to explore how non-personal data obtained through mapping the distress calls received on
TEARS Foundation’s “Help-at-your-fingertips” service line can be used for SGBV research and
prevention purposes. Given that in South Africa the death of women at the hands of an intimate
partner has been estimated at six times the global average, the urgent need for alternative SGBV
prevention strategies is unquestionable. The study shows how the calls received on the “Help-atyour-
fingertips” service line across South African provinces and towns were analysed to identify
trends, and visually represent the number of SGBV distress calls over two periods, namely July
2013 to August 2014 and September 2015 to October 2016. The key trends identified include
times of year, times of day, highest call volumes in terms of provinces and differences in times
of calls in different areas in South Africa as examples of the kinds of information that can be
deduced from non-personal data.
The study shows how non-personal data can be used as a powerful tool to make SGBV data
visible and to raise public awareness of its incidence in South Africa.