The perceptions of safety and police visibility among secondary victims of gender-based violence in Soweto Township, Gauteng Province, South Africa
Nomsa Ingrid Zikalala
Abstract
Traditional African communities are known for their social proximity which entails co-existence fostered by trust based on friendship, kinship, and experience. The wellbeing of residence in townships was protected through collective efficiency. However, in the past five years, South Africa was ranked amongst countries with the highest level of gender-based violence (GBV) in the world. Various police units are dispatched across South Africa, yet there are high levels of fear of crime across urban, rural and township communities which necessitated the study. Previous studies reported that most victims of crime display lower levels of trust in the police, however the categories of victims were not specified. This study only focused on indirect victims of GBV. The objective of the study was to interview secondary victims of GBV to explore their perceptions of safety and police visibility in Soweto Township. This is a qualitative study with a phenomenological design. Purposive sampling technique was used to select forty-five participants, and interviews were conducted to collect primary data from consenting participants. Thematic content analysis was conducted, and the dominant themes were “proximity” and “unsafe”. Results showed that most participants did not feel safe despite residing within two kilometers of a Community Service Centre (CSC) in Soweto Township. The study recommended mandatory police-foot patrols in nearby communities to maintain positive police-public relations. Based on Mere Exposure Effect, this strategy may address residents’ negative perceptions of police visibility. The study contributes to growing literature on the safety perception of indirect victims of crime in South Africa.
Keywords
gender-based violence, police visibility, proximity, safety, social control
Author information & Contribution
Nomsa Ingrid Zikalala. Doctor of Policing. Post-doctoral Fellow at the Department of Police Practice, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. E-mail: zikalni@unisa.ac.za
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This work was not supported by any funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines set by the University of South Africa (UNISA). The conduct of this study has been approved and given relative clearance by the College of Law Research Ethics Committee (CLAW_RERC): Ref#3328. The study also adhered to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) (No.4 of 2013) which regulates the sharing of personal information. The data is accessible on an open-source platform called Figshare.
AI Declaration
The author declares the use of Grammarly, an online grammar and spell checker software, to improve the quality of sentences.
Notes
This paper was first presented at the South African Police Service (SAPS) Summit, held in Emperor’s Palace Conference Centre, in Kempton Park, from the 08 to 10 April 2025.
Acknowledgement
The study was made possible by the forty-five research participants who shared their experiences and perception of safety and police visibility in Soweto Township, in South Africa. Extensive academic support was provided by Professor David Masiloane, Professor Angel S Mabudusha and Professor Jacob T. Mofokeng through the study.
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Cite this article:
Zikalala, N.I. (2025). The perceptions of safety and police visibility among secondary victims of gender-based violence in Soweto Township, Gauteng Province, South Africa. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 5(4), 157-177. https://doi.org/10.53378/irssr.353292
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