At the end of November, the South African government, where 15 women are murdered every day and the police record some 117 cases of rape, decided to classify gender-based violence and femicide as a “national disaster”. This measure, “historic” according to women’s rights organizations, was preceded by impressive demonstrations during which thousands of South African women stopped working and organized massive sit-ins in the streets of the country to put pressure on a government long accused of paralysis.
The movement was also supported by a petition signed by 1.1 million people, which led the Executive to admit that this form of violence and its impact on the daily lives of women and girls in the country, reaches the threshold of a possible disaster, as defined in the Disaster Management Act. Cyril Ramaphosa’s government is seeking to accelerate resources and strengthen the institutional response to this “corrosive” scourge, in the president’s own words.
For many South Africans, the November protests were an opportunity to show their collective grief and denounce a state that failed to protect them. “There is no longer a safe place in the whole country. You always have to indicate your location, carry a Taser (electroshock weapon) and, in general, be ready for anything,” said Nosihle Mdlalose, a 20-year-old student, on the Sea Point promenade in Cape Town, noting that “fear marks the daily life” of many women.
There is little doubt about the importance of this statement, but the question is what will happen now, when the enthusiasm generated by the announcement itself fades. Women’s rights groups and activists are clear that the window of opportunity created is narrow and must be used strategically. “A declaration means nothing without rapid implementation, dedicated budgets, coordinated prevention and accountability strategies,” Sabrina Walter, founder and executive director of Women for Change, the organization that led these protests, told El País.
A declaration means nothing without rapid implementation, dedicated budgets, coordinated prevention strategies and accountability.
Sabrina Walter, Women for Change
According to the UN, globally, around 50,000 women and girls were killed by their partners or family members in 2024, meaning that on average 137 women and girls were killed every day by a member of their own family. Africa has the highest rates relative to the female population. In South Africa, according to UN Women, more than one in three women (35.8%) have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Last year, Amnesty International estimated in a report that between July and September 2024, 12,765 cases of sexual crimes were reported in South Africa, including 10,191 rapes and 957 women murdered.
Victims without support
South Africa has officially responded to gender-based violence for years with action plans, public statements and task forces. In 2020, he launched his National Strategic Plan on Gender Violence and Femicide, promising in-depth reform. But five years later, there are no binding targets, budgets or accountability. “The majority of available funding is dedicated only to short-term projects,” explains Celeste Louw, director of operations at the TEARS Foundation, which helps victims of gender-based violence. The official said that, for this reason, long-term support for survivors remains very precarious. “Shelters operate with minimal staff, dilapidated facilities, limited security and no coherent programming for the women and children they house,” he cited.
Since the plan was approved in 2020, only 11 new Thuthuzela health centers have been opened to support rape victims, when the country of 63 million people could use many more. On the other hand, processing times for DNA samples continue to lengthen by up to two years, weakening judicial processes. Parliamentary records show that only three of the South African police’s four forensic laboratories are fully operational and the volume of evidence to be analyzed has increased by more than 63% since 2021. Victim shelters are also under-resourced and under-staffed. A survey carried out during the 2021/2022 period concluded that psychosocial support only reaches 1.7% of survivors of gender-based violence.
On December 8, representatives of Women for Change met with senior officials from the Presidency and the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. “At this stage, no definitive implementation plans, targets or timetables have been presented. The government has indicated that departments are still in the process of drafting their internal reports and that a framework document will be developed. There have also been no firm commitments regarding accountability mechanisms or funding, which remain outstanding,” said Merlize Jogiat, director of operations and advocacy at Women for Change.
The coming weeks will be crucial to see whether detailed timetables, binding responsibilities and a transparent monitoring framework will be released, which the organizations say would mark a departure from ambitious policies that have not been implemented in South Africa.
They say we have policies in place, we are implementing them and we should be happy. The reality is that when policies work, gender-based violence figures do not increase at the rate they do in South Africa.
Cameron Kasambala, Women for Change
Big projects on paper
“We will closely follow each step,” guaranteed Jogiat, stressing that civil society cannot go further without political monitoring. Walter, also from Women for Change, said the organization therefore wants to encourage civil society to be included in these decision-making processes, from which they are excluded once pressure on politicians decreases.
“We have big plans on paper, but they don’t go beyond that,” said Cameron Kasambala, head of Women for Change. “Our biggest challenge is the high-level promises we often receive from our government. They say we have policies in place, we are implementing them, we should be happy. The reality is that when policies work, gender-based violence figures do not increase at the rate they do in South Africa,” she added.
What happens in the future will largely depend on how the Disaster Management Act is interpreted and applied to combat gender-based violence. The law allows for accelerated funding, coordination among multiple agencies, and the appointment of a central authority responsible for emergency response. In theory, this could force ministries to address long-standing deficiencies: increasing forensic capacity, strengthening police, increasing the number of specialist courts and expanding shelters with protected budgets. In practice, such measures depend on communication and willingness between ministries, which have historically acted in isolation, as well as the Treasury’s decision to set aside funds rather than make ambitious commitments.
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