Define and elaborate on the concept domestic violence:
Domestic violence can be defined as any form of assault (physical and sexual)
intimidation and battering (including sexual battering) or any criminal conduct,
that result in the person or a family/ household being injured by another
member of the family / household who was or is still at the same residence.
According to The Domestic violence Act 116 of 1998, the following relationships
between a complainant and a respondent is a domestic relationship:
o Marriage
o Same sex / opposite sex relationships
o Parental relationship
o Familial relation by consanguinity, affinity or adoption
o Engagement, dating/ customary relationship; an actual perceived
romantic, intimate or sexual relationship
o Persons who share or recently shared the same residence
In order words, domestic violence includes any form of violence between
members of a biological family or people who are bound to each other through
an interpersonal relationship.
The Act recognises that domestic violence is not a private matter but a serious
crime against society in general.
Section 1 of the Domestic Violence Act specifies the following acts of domestic
violence, namely:
Physical abuse refers to any threat or act of physical violence towards a
complainant.
Sexual abuse refers to any conduct that abuses, humiliates, degrades or otherwise
violates the sexual integrity of the complainant.
Emotional, verbal and psychological abuse
Includes any behaviour associated with degrading or humiliating a complainant.
This includes repeated insults, ridiculing, name calling, threats that cause
emotional pain or is exhibited through obsessive possessiveness or jealousy, as
well as actions that invades the complainant’s privacy or infringe his/her liberty,
integrity or security.
Economic abuse
Includes the unreasonable deprivation of economic or financial resources to
which a complainant is entitled under law or which the complainant requires out
of necessity.
It also includes the unreasonable disposal of household effects or other property
in which the complainant has an interest.
Intimidation refers to uttering or conveying a threat, or causing a complainant to
receive a threat, which evokes fear.
Harassment
Constitutes engaging in a pattern of conduct that induces the fear of harm to a
complainant, including repeatedly watching, or loitering outside of or near the
building or place where the complainant stays, works or carries out business,
studies or happens to be.
Domestic violence can be defined as any form of assault (physical and sexual)
intimidation and battering (including sexual battering) or any criminal conduct,
that result in the person or a family/ household being injured by another
member of the family / household who was or is still at the same residence.
According to The Domestic violence Act 116 of 1998, the following relationships
between a complainant and a respondent is a domestic relationship:
o Marriage
o Same sex / opposite sex relationships
o Parental relationship
o Familial relation by consanguinity, affinity or adoption
o Engagement, dating/ customary relationship; an actual perceived
romantic, intimate or sexual relationship
o Persons who share or recently shared the same residence
In order words, domestic violence includes any form of violence between
members of a biological family or people who are bound to each other through
an interpersonal relationship.
The Act recognises that domestic violence is not a private matter but a serious
crime against society in general.
Section 1 of the Domestic Violence Act specifies the following acts of domestic
violence, namely:
Physical abuse refers to any threat or act of physical violence towards a
complainant.
Sexual abuse refers to any conduct that abuses, humiliates, degrades or otherwise
violates the sexual integrity of the complainant.
Emotional, verbal and psychological abuse
Includes any behaviour associated with degrading or humiliating a complainant.
This includes repeated insults, ridiculing, name calling, threats that cause
emotional pain or is exhibited through obsessive possessiveness or jealousy, as
well as actions that invades the complainant’s privacy or infringe his/her liberty,
integrity or security.
Economic abuse
Includes the unreasonable deprivation of economic or financial resources to
which a complainant is entitled under law or which the complainant requires out
of necessity.
It also includes the unreasonable disposal of household effects or other property
in which the complainant has an interest.
Intimidation refers to uttering or conveying a threat, or causing a complainant to
receive a threat, which evokes fear.
Harassment
Constitutes engaging in a pattern of conduct that induces the fear of harm to a
complainant, including repeatedly watching, or loitering outside of or near the
building or place where the complainant stays, works or carries out business,
studies or happens to be.
