A colloquium on homicide will take place on 6-7 December 2010 at the Mapungubwe Hotel, Johannesburg

Violence ranks third among the leading overall causes of death in South Africa, after HIV/AIDS and ischaemic heart disease, and it accounts for the most years of life lost in male South Africans after HIV/AIDS.

While the World Health Organisation has estimated that violence constitutes 26% of all injury deaths worldwide, the National Injury Mortality Surveillance System showed that in 2004, violence accounted for about 50% of all injury deaths in South Africa. Studies have also shown that South Africa’s interpersonal violence rates are five times higher than the global rates. Following the global patterns, which show that homicide or murder rates among males are more than three times higher than those for females, South African males are also disproportionately implicated in homicides. The highest global and South African homicide rates for males are in the 15-29 year age group, followed closely by the 30-44 year age group. These data indicate that homicide specifically, and violence generally, is a significant public health issue. Much of the public health oriented research that exists tends to provide descriptive accounts of the ‘who, what, when and how’ of homicide. This work is important as it heightens public and political awareness about homicide as a priority health issue. However, it often falls short of producing the empirical data and interpretive frameworks to increase our understanding of the social, cultural, economic and neighbourhood infrastructural causes of and prevention measures regarding fatal interpersonal violence.

There is little doubt that the prevalence of homicide poses a serious threat to individual and family lives. Additionally, violence jeopardises social, cultural and economic reconstruction, and development efforts for a better society. Death from interpersonal violence and the trauma related to it are socially and economically detrimental to neighbourhoods, communities and the country as a whole. Besides its obvious impact on an individual’s life, homicide also has an unwanted effect on relationships, the livelihoods of families, the reproduction of stable family structures, the well-being of communities and the prosperity of a society. The fact that violence-related deaths significantly contribute to adult premature death means that South Africa, as a middle-income country confronted with a myriad of issues, is faced with additional barriers to its socio-economic development and growth.

In light of all the above, the local research and intervention base from which effective policy and programmes can be formulated or replicated to prevent and reduce homicide is under-developed. Most of what we know about homicide and its determinants arises from European and North American contexts. The influence of South African socio-economic and political specificities remains under-examined, some of which include the wealth and income gap, gender inequalities, poverty, a history of state repression and resistance, and the transitional nature of the country. A concern with the nature and dynamics of South Africa however, does not mean ignoring theoretical and empirical work from European and North American countries. Instead, we need to determine how much the explanatory factors identified in such countries can help explain variations in both general and male homicide rates within South Africa. It means identifying the factors that explain variations between classes, geographical areas, sexes, races, age groups and different temporalities within South Africa.

Consistent with the aims of South Africa to achieve broad and rapid growth, and to recognise and integrate within globalised economies and globalised knowledge systems, this ‘think big’ colloquium is intended to enhance the development of the scientific evidence that should provide a basis for violence prevention policies and intervention. The outcomes of this colloquium must offer new and further insights into the influences of social, cultural, economic and neighbourhood factors on homicide rates so that they can be meaningfully tackled to inform public discussions, policies and initiatives. Some of the factors, which have been shown to influence homicide levels and that we hope the invited speakers will address, include but are not limited to age profile, the role of gender and masculinity, family structure, educational levels, levels of employment and income inequality, and types of housing and neighbourhood infrastructure. By building on knowledge of how to enhance the development of South African communities and cities, the colloquium should aim to identify and explain factors associated with homicide.

The presentations and discussions from the colloquium will address a number of questions, but the question that should be foremost on the agenda of policymakers and safety promotion activists is the one that addresses how we support specific communities and South Africans generally to tackle the problem of homicidal violence.

Therefore, we kindly invite you to share your work at the colloquium with a selected number of experts on the subject of homicidal violence in South Africa. We would like you to suggest a topic to present on. So that we can develop an informative and useful programme, it would be helpful if you could provide us with a provisional title and abstract.

Thank you.

Kopano Ratele Professor, Institute for Social and Health Science, University of South Africa (UNISA)
Co-director, Safety and Peace Promotion Research Unit, Medical Research Council-UNISA

For more information contact: Chernelle Lambert
email: Chernelle.Lambert@mrc.ac.za
Tel: 021 9380535