1 CHAPTER 1 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1.1 INTRODUCTION This study focuses on domestic violence in South Africa. South Africa has a high rate of violence and murder and the South African Police Force cannot cope with the enormity of the problem. In the Cassel Giant Paperback Dictionary (1994) violence is described as:  exercising violent power;  vehemence, which includes intensity or impetuosity (forceful energy or emotion; impulsive and passionate) of feeling and actions;  the illegal exercise of physical force, which includes intimidation by threat of force and injury. Many South African citizens have experienced violence first-hand. According to De Beer (2007:6) South Africa is the second most unsafe country out of the 48 countries south of the Sahara. This is evident in walled enclosures and electric fencing in city neighbourhoods in South Africa. Much of the violence in South Africa is due to crime and criminal acts. However, a large number of violent incidents happen in the home and are perpetrated by family members on family members, including children and young people. Children and young people are often exposed to violence in the home and sometimes they themselves are abused. In the South African Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998, domestic violence is described as “any controlling or abusive behaviour by a partner which harms, or may cause imminent harm to the safety, health or wellbeing of a person with whom the abuser is in a domestic relationship. Domestic violence includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional, verbal and psychological abuse, intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage to property and entry into a complainant‟s residence without consent”. In a South African study on domestic violence Lezanne Leoschur (2009) interviewed 4 391 young people between the ages of 12 and 22 years with regard to domestic violence and found the following (Leoschur 2009:2-4):