Resilient followership: navigating critical solidarity and active citizenry to fight gender-based violence – the case of the west coast district municipality

The post-state capture and post-pandemic era have proven that South Africans are resilient people, have the ability to fight against corruption and overcome the effects of a deadly disease like the Covid-19 corona virus on their individual and communal lives. President Ramaphosa stated in his recent addresses that the resilience embedded in our South African nation is what we are known for. Looking through the lens of multi-systemic resilience by Michael Ungar (2021a) and the African concept of Ubuntu, the study aims to affirm the agency and resiliency embedded in the citizens of local communities; the importance of strengthening resilient followership and active citizenry for constructive solutions to service delivery challenges; to connect the philosophy of Ubuntu and the public service values of Batho Pele with public servant leadership; and investigate how resilient followership and active citizenry can contribute to end the dehumanising scourge of gender-based violence in the West Coast District Municipality. The study is conducted in the form of a comparative literature analysis and follows an interdisciplinary, intersectional and decolonial approach.