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Maposa, Nyasha (2025) An exploration of the influence of apartheid legacies on gender-based violence in Diepsloot. Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.
There is a growing body of work showing that the issue of sexual violence in present day South Africa is not a post-apartheid issue – but is deeply connected to histories of oppression under slavery, colonialism and apartheid. These studies often trace the genealogy of sexual violence to dispel notions of a ‘crisis’ of sexual violence in contemporary South Africa. However, as yet these studies have not been empirical nor context specific considering how apartheid legacies have implications for GBV, more broadly, within particular areas in the country. There has also been limited engagement with other apartheid legacies beyond structural racism and sexual violence to consider their ramifications for women’s present-day experiences of violence. This thesis broadens the scope and framing of legacies implicated in GBV and makes them a core focus in understanding violence in Diepsloot. This is an approach to the issue in Diepsloot that has not been taken to date.
Analysis of 34 interviews with residents and those working in the GBV sector as well as data from Facebook and a field visit to Diepsloot is presented. The empirical evidence is analysed using Jeff Hearn’s (2022) violence regime framework and other concepts developed throughout the research to explore the relationship between structural and interpersonal violence in Diepsloot. The research has four central aims, the achievement of which adds to the unique contribution of this thesis. Firstly, it aimsto ascertain the implications of apartheid legacies beyond histories of sexual violence on women’s experiences of GBV in Diepsloot. Secondly extending beyond the notion of "GBV hotspots" this research aims to explore how and why certain contexts lend themselves to higher rates of violence than others; with particular focus on infrastructure and the physical conditions it creates for women’s safety or lack thereof. Thirdly – to understand the strategies of resistance and safety women employ to protect themselves and/or avoid violence in this context; beyond experiences of GBV there has been limited engagement with women in this way. Lastly, to build and extend on the work of previous studies which have pointed to risk factors for violence in Diepsloot – to consider what underpins these issues through a framework that can hold structural violence as rooted in the historical as well as the interpersonal.
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