South Africa declared gender-based violence a national disaster. But how will frontline workers be kept safe?

Social workers are often the first to arrive at scenes of gender-based violence and femicide. They often enter unsafe homes without backup or protective equipment. As one told me:

We go alone for home visits… You do not have a clue what you will find when you get there.

This everyday risk is seldom acknowledged. Yet it sits at the centre of a country’s response to its crisis of violence.