Femicide in South Africa: Ideal Victims, Visible Bodies, and Invisible Perpetrators
Date
2023-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
South Africa’s femicide rate is five times the global average (Statistics South Africa 2018). In recent years, we have seen increased scholarly attention examining media reporting of femicide. These studies have been critical the way South African media have and continue to cover femicide. This study seeks to add to this existing knowledge by exploring the media coverage of three sexual violence murders. This study explores the online news media coverage of three case studies. These case studies are the rape and murder of University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana, the rape and murder of Lynette Volschenk, and the rape and murder of grade 7 pupil Janika Mallo. All these murders happened in Cape Town in August 2019 and received prominent media coverage. This study utilizes thematic analytic tools to explore dominant patterns in the data through the framework of representation and intersectionality. The study aims to do a close reading and identify discourses embedded in news media texts to highlight their functions, effects, and social and ideological implications for society. The findings reveal an increased focus on the visible bodily injuries of victims and media used spectacular language to present this. The focus on the bodily injuries resulted in making perpetrators invisible. The analysis confirmed that certain victims matter to media more than others. Furthermore, media represented femicide as a current crisis and ignored the historical structures that enable the prevalence of sexual violence. Although, this study is not comparative media analysis and does not provide media to show that some murders are under reported, because it is only looking at three cases the analysis does demonstrate that other murders matter more than others. The study concludes that the way media cover femicide does not present the ‘true reality’ of sexual violence in South Africa and we are still far from finding long lasting solutions to the rampant violence.
Description
A research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts to the Faculty of Humanities, School of Literature, Language and Media, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023.
Keywords
Femicide, Sexual violence, Victims, Perpetrator, Representation, Gender-based violence, Construct, Coverage, Portrayal, UCTD
Citation
Nyahti, Teboo. (20230. Femicide in South Africa: Ideal Victims, Visible Bodies, and Invisible Perpetrators. [Master's dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg]. WIReDSpace.