According to the latest SAPS crime statistics for Q3 2024/25 (1 October–31 December 2024), women in South Africa experienced: 961 murders – that’s 11 women killed every day 11,803 rapes – more than 131 per day, or 5 every hour 16,023 cases of assault GBH – 45 women seriously assaulted every day.

And these are only the reported cases. Thousands more remain invisible—buried in silence, fear, or distrust of a system that too often fails them.

By comparison, terrorism kills around 1,667 people per month globally. South African women alone face nearly 12,000 violent attacks every month—yet we see no comparable public outrage or mobilisation. If foreign terrorists murdered and raped women at this scale, there would be a national shutdown. Troops in the streets. Special task teams. A presidential address. Instead, we get press conferences and broken promises.

Yes, South Africa does have Sexual Offences Courts—originally reintroduced in 2013 to offer a more supportive environment for survivors. But: There are just over 100 courts for the entire country—far below what’s needed. Many are under-resourced, inconsistently staffed, or not fully operational SOC’s are not backed by permanent legislation, which limits their stability and expansion. Rural and high-crime areas often have no access to these specialised courts at all

In short: the idea exists—but the implementation is too limited, too slow, and too fragile. Forensic backlogs are growing. Cases drag on for years. Survivors face retraumatisation in court. And far too many perpetrators go free. South African women are terrorised daily—with little hope of justice. We cannot continue to describe this crisis with soft language. It is time to act.

Action Society is calling for:

Violence against women to be declared a national disaster.
Urgent investment in Public-Private Partnerships to strengthen investigative and forensic capacity
The expansion and permanent legislation of Sexual Offences Courts—ensuring access in every district
Better-trained prosecutors and magistrates to prioritise gender-based violence Enforcement of mandatory minimum sentences and the closure of legal loopholes
This is not a women’s issue. It’s a national emergency. Raise your voice. Share this message. Demand accountability. Contribute to Action Society to support our campaign for safety, justice, and reform. Because silence protects the predator—not the victim.

Juanita du Preez is Action Society Spokesperson

The post The silent siege: Violence against women in South Africa is a national emergency appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

The latest crime statistics presented by Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia raise serious concerns about accuracy, completeness and transparency, especially during the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence on Women and Children, Lisa Schickerling MP – DA Spokesperson on Police, said last week.

“While the DA notes a marginal decline in murders and attempted murders, the stark reality remains that violence affecting women and vulnerable groups is increasing and key information is missing,” she said in a statement.

Even though SAPS records crimes against children none were presented. Failing to release this data is a serious omission that prevents communities and Parliament from understanding the true scale of the crisis, according to the DA.

A major discrepancy appears between SAPS’ categories:
SAPS “contact sexual offences” category reports only 170 to 196 cases
SAPS rape statistics for the same period show 6 559 in Q1 and 7 204 in Q2

“This inconsistency raises a critical oversight question. If SAPS reports two different sets of figures for sexual violence, which data stream should the public trust?” Schickerling asked.

Small percentage drops hide extreme levels of daily violence

SAPS highlights a slight reduction in murder and attempted murder, but the real scale remains ‘severe’. During Q2 alone:

5 270 murders equals 58 murders per day, or 2.4 murders per hour
5 519 attempted murders equals 61 per day
7 204 rapes equals 78 rapes per day, or more than 3 every hour
32 854 cases of assault GBH equals 365 serious assaults per day, or 15 per hour
4 784 carjackings equals 52 per day

“This is not a picture of communities feeling safer. It is a country experiencing constant and severe violence,” Schickerling said.

High volume violence is increasing, not decreasing

SAPS’ own numbers show:
Rape increased by almost 10 percent
Assault GBH increased by 5.2 percent
Carjackings increased by 2.4 percent

“This means more people are being attacked, injured or sexually violated. A slight reduction in murder does not offset the escalating violence in categories that mainly affect women and children,” Schickerling said.

SAPS acknowledges massive underreporting but fails to reflect this in the public narrative

According to the Stats SA Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey:
32.5 percent of assaults are not reported
42.4 percent of home robberies are not reported

These are exactly the categories that dominate contact crime totals, the DA pointed out.

“Given the data gaps, contradictions and omissions, how can South Africans trust any of SAPS’ reported GBV figures? Furthermore, what is the SAPS plan to fix the escalating levels of rape, assault and violence that women and children face every day?” Schickerling asked.

“If almost half of these contact crimes are never reported, the true scale of GBV and child violence is significantly worse than SAPS figures indicate. This is why the DA calls for accurate crime statistics. They show where the problems are, guide where resources should go and expose failures so that action can be taken. Omitting child crime from the records leaves communities blind and vulnerable. The DA deems this as a failure of transparency and accountability and a betrayal of the communities who are most at risk,” the party concluded.

The post SAPS must ‘come clean’ on GBV and child violence appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

Pregnancy can trigger or worsen violence in relationships, often due to changes in power dynamics, financial stress, or a partner’s perceived loss of control.

A longitudinal study in Durban, a South African coastal city, found that 20% of women had experienced at least one form of physical, sexual or psychological intimate partner violence during pregnancy. Another study in Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic capital, found 36.6% of young women reported violence by a partner or spouse, and pregnancy was cited as a key risk period for violence.

Children are directly and indirectly affected by this violence against women. They also experience violence across a range of settings, including their homes, schools and communities. The Birth to Thirty study, a research programme tracking the lives of a group of people in the South African township of Soweto, found that 99% of the cohort had been exposed to at least one type of violence. And 40% had been exposed to five or six other types of violence.

The 18th issue of the South African Child Gauge, a research report launched in November 2025, focuses on the intersections of violence against women and children. These forms of violence occur together in the same households and share the same risk factors. However, they historically have been treated as separate issues, with services housed in different government departments.

This article offers an opportunity to shift the focus from awareness raising to action-oriented thinking that can break the cycle of violence. These reflections come from our chapter in the Child Gauge, which was co-written with Aislinn Delany, an independent social researcher.

In this article, we highlight three approaches that can guide South Africa’s efforts to prevent violence against women and children:

starting early

working across sectors, with the Department of Health playing a critical role

transforming harmful gender norms.

Breaking the cycle of violence

The first 1,000 days (from conception to 2 years old) are a critical development phase that shapes a child’s future health, learning and wellbeing.

Exposure to ongoing violence is especially damaging during the early years. Excessive physical and psychological stress or trauma, also known as toxic stress, can disrupt the development of the brain. This may result in lifelong consequences for children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development.

Studies have shown that children exposed to violence in the home are more likely to normalise violence as a method of conflict resolution. This keeps the cycle of violence going from one generation to the next. It puts boys at higher risk of being violent to their partners as men. It makes girls more vulnerable to victimisation by intimate partners later in life.

Preventing violence against women and children should therefore begin early and continue. Early action can address the root causes and risk factors, interrupting the cycle within an individual’s lifetime and across generations.

The health sector’s role

Violence against women and children is a complex and deeply rooted problem. It requires a coordinated response from a range of sectors, including health, education, justice and social services.

Within this ecosystem of support, maternal and child health services offer one of the most frequent points of contact with pregnant women, young children and their families. These routine contacts provide opportunities to identify women and children at risk and connect families with support services.

It is therefore essential to strengthen the focus on violence prevention during the first 1,000 days through the direct actions of health workers or by using health facilities as platforms for delivery. For example, training health workers not only to screen for substance use, mental health concerns and exposure to violence, but also to provide care that recognises how violence and adversity affect health and behaviour.

Screening must also be linked to clear and reliable referral pathways to services.

The Road to Health Book (the South African child health record given to children at birth) offers another opportunity to strengthen screening and support.

Early opportunities to challenge harmful gender norms

Violence is a learned behaviour, shaped by social norms. Where violence is accepted or justified as a way of resolving conflict, it becomes part of everyday life. Transforming harmful norms is therefore essential to building safer homes and communities.

Some programmes have shown positive results in shifting attitudes and behaviours and reducing violence against women and children. The Bandebereho and RealFathers studies are examples from low-resource settings in sub-Saharan Africa. They are designed to engage men as fathers and have been shown to reduce intimate partner violence and violent discipline of children by engaging men as caregivers.

The beliefs that caregiving is only a woman’s role, and that women should endure violence to preserve family unity, are harmful. By addressing harmful beliefs, these programmes can foster shared caregiving, positive discipline and joint decision-making.

Evidence also suggests that men’s involvement during pregnancy and early childhood can strengthen family relationships and improve maternal and child well-being. Research in Soweto, South Africa found that when fathers attended pregnancy ultrasound scans, they reported stronger emotional bonds with their partners. And they felt a greater sense of responsibility and care for their unborn child.

Similarly, another analysis found that postnatal father involvement was associated with lower rates of maternal depression. These findings underscore the importance of designing gender transformative interventions. Practically, this may mean creating family-friendly health environments, with flexible clinic hours, and programmes that prepare men and families for nurturing and responsive care.

Conclusion

Without intervention, violence against women and children is likely to increase in frequency and severity.

Early intervention is therefore crucial. Violence prevention should ideally be integrated into existing systems at scale rather than treated as additional services. In this, the health sector plays a central role, particularly during the first 1,000 days, given its routine contact with mothers, infants and caregivers.

It is equally important to transform the harmful gender norms that sustain violence and limit men’s participation in caregiving.

Written by Phiwe Babalo Nota, Researcher, Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town, and Wiedaad Slemming, Director, Children’s Insitute, University of Cape Town.

Aislinn Delany was a coauthor of the chapter on violence prevention within the first 1,000 days in the South African Child Gauge 2025 on which this article is based.

Republished with permission from The Conversation. The original article can be found here.

The post Violence against women and children is deeply connected – three ways to break the patterns appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

The 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee had fled the devastation of Kyiv only to be stabbed to death on a commuter line in the United States. All that gruesome footage was seen on video. The tragedy was, on its face, senseless. No quarrel, no robbery, no motive that the authorities have yet explained, other than the murderer being heard muttering on CCTV footage “I got that white girl”.

It was impossible not to feel the injustice. Newspapers across the world reported on the murals, her studies, her dreams. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, offered to pay for murals in her honour. Politicians spoke of transit safety and mental health. On social media, strangers mourned her as though they had known her. And in truth, we did know her in the way one knows a type: the earnest migrant, hard-working, hopeful, paying her dues in a new land. The human face behind the abstraction of “refugee crisis” which the West is facing.

But as South Africans, one can’t help finding a grim familiarity. The details are different, the accent is not the same, yet the rhythm of the story is instantly recognisable. A woman caught unawares in a place that should have been safe. A sudden act of brutality against a vulnerable person and now a family left mourning. For us as South Africans, this is not unusual. It is routine.

Which is why, in remembering Zarutska, I think we owe it to ourselves to remember our own dead. Not because her life was worth less, it was worth just as much, but because the mourning she received abroad is a tribute denied to too many women here at home.

The familiar pattern

Consider, for instance, Thimna Kuze, a 13-year-old girl from Khayelitsha. In March 2023 she went to sleep at a friend’s house. The next day she was found lifeless in a shack, with injuries no child should ever bear. Her case has been delayed repeatedly due to equipment failures, overbooked courts, endless postponements. The man accused of her rape and murder sits in prison while the calendar drags on, justice endlessly deferred. Thimna’s name rarely makes the national news. There is no outpouring of solidarity from foreign politicians. The silence is deafening.

Or take Nadia Lotz, a mother of three, murdered in 2023 allegedly by her partner of fourteen years. According to testimony, he slit her throat in a car and stabbed her repeatedly as she tried to escape. Her trial too has stuttered forward in increments. The family waits. The children grow up with a hole where their mother used to be. And society shrugs.

And then there is Nosiphiwo James, a 29-year-old stabbed to death with a screwdriver by her boyfriend in Khayelitsha,. She left behind two young children. Action Society had to employ private investigators to track down the fugitive partner when police resources faltered. An NGO is hiring detectives so that the state can do its job.

These three names are only a sample. There are many more: Melany Stoffels, killed with a hammer while pregnant; Aster, a 14-year-old girl raped by a pastor; little Poppy, four years old, allegedly molested by the man who was supposed to drive her to crèche. Each story could fill its own article. Each is part of a grim picture that runs through our daily life, often unnoticed, except by the families who must endure the long slog through a justice system that seems structurally incapable of urgency.

Violence without spectacle

Why do some deaths become headlines while others remain footnotes? Partly, it’s geography. Americans take notice when violence erupts on their own commuter trains, because public transport is not supposed to be a killing field. A refugee killed on U.S. soil makes for a global morality tale. But a woman strangled in a shack in Mfuleni? That is too ordinary. Too common to stir outrage beyond her community.

The irony is that South Africa’s epidemic of gender-based violence dwarfs the isolated incident in Charlotte. According to the South African Police Service’s own figures, over 10 000 cases of rape are reported each quarter. That’s not counting the vast number that go unreported. Murders of women and children are rising, not falling. The problem is therefore not sporadic. It is systemic.

And yet, the rhythm of response is numbing. A hashtag. A speech from the president on Women’s Day. A commission of inquiry here, a “strategic plan” there. But the drumbeat of violence continues. It seems we are caught between over-familiarity and helplessness. The individual cases blur into statistics. The state says the right things but delivers little. Public outrage spikes and then subsides. The victims themselves become interchangeable, except to those who knew them.

The broken machinery of justice

What is striking about the South African cases is not only the brutality of the crimes but the chronic dysfunction that follows. Delays are standard. Evidence goes missing. Dockets vanish. Postponement is the norm, not the exception. Each week Action Society attends court with grieving families who are expected to show up again and again, to relive the trauma, only to be told to come back in six months. In the meantime, suspects apply for bail, witnesses lose heart, and families gain no closure.

Compare this to the swiftness with which Zarutska’s alleged killer was arrested and charged. Within days the U.S. Justice Department had filed federal charges under a special statute for violence on mass transit. Surveillance footage was released. There is every indication the case will proceed to trial without the delays that we treat as inevitable.

One could argue that America is wealthier, better resourced, more efficient. True enough. But resources alone do not explain the difference. Our courts are not poor by African standards. The deeper problem is cultural: a state apparatus that does not view the timely prosecution of violence against women and children as a matter of urgent priority. Cases involving poor women languish.

What can be done?

The easy answer is to say “more policing” or “harsher sentences.” Politicians love these soundbites. But we already have harsh sentences on the books. The problem is not that our laws are weak. It is that they are not enforced with consistency or speed. Justice delayed is justice denied, and in South Africa justice is almost always delayed.

That is why NGOs like Action Society have become crucial. We monitor cases, pressure prosecutors, oppose bail applications, and, in some instances, hire private investigators. This is extraordinary: in a functioning state, it would be the role of the police and prosecutors to support families, not private entities. Yet without Action Society and many other NGOs, many families would be left in the dark, unable even to track where their case stands.

What is needed is not another “strategic framework” but a relentless focus on competence. Functioning forensic labs. Dockets that don’t vanish. Courts that prioritise serious cases. Prosecutors who communicate with families. And above all, a political culture that recognises the crisis for what it is: not an unfortunate by-product of poverty, but a central test of our constitutional democracy.

So yes, mourn for Iryna Zarutska. But let us not allow the sympathy to remain at arm’s length, as though violence against women were a foreign tragedy. It is our daily reality. Thimna Kuze, Nadia Lotz, Nosiphiwo James: these names should be as present in our national conscience as Zarutska’s is in America’s. Their families deserve more than silence. They deserve justice, and they deserve to know that society has not looked away.

The philosopher Hannah Arendt once wrote about the “banality of evil,” the way horror becomes normal when it is repeated often enough. South Africa risks living in that condition permanently: a society where the slaughter of women and children barely registers. To resist that banality requires more than outrage. It requires attention, persistence, and the willingness to demand that our state perform its most basic duty.

When the headlines about Zarutska fade, and they will, the violence here will continue. The question is whether we are prepared to confront it with the seriousness it demands, or whether we will go on consigning our dead to the margins of memory.

Written by Juanita du Preez, an activist against violence against women and children and spokesperson for Action Society, a civil rights organisation founded in 2019, focusing on civil rights, community safety, and crime prevention.

Republished with permission from The Daily Friend. The original article can be found here.

The post When remembering Iryna Zarutska, spare a thought for SA’s GBV victims appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

“I may not be able to answer the question of whether we are progressing or regressing, but I do know that we are at a very low end in terms of brokenness in the dignity or indignity with which women and children are being treated in this country at this moment. It has gone way beyond a question of criminality and crime,” Deputy Chairperson of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Professor Tinyiko Maluleke, told SAnews, during a recent interview.

As an independent advisory body appointed by the President, the NPC is tasked with advising government and Parliament on matters pertaining to the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030.

The Deputy Chairperson said the country has come to a point where one cannot merely say that the police must do their work.

“Of course, the police must do their job. When young mothers are getting involved in the abuse of their own children and fathers are getting involved in the abuse of their own children at the scale at which we are witnessing in this country, there is something much more deeper that is broken. We speak of social cohesion and maybe this is a devastating illustration of the lack of it,” he told SAnews.

Expanding on whether the country has made progress in tackling women’s issues, Maluleke said this was a mixed bag, adding that the establishment of a Ministry of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) as well as a good number of women in Parliament, were good signs.

He also welcomed the fact that the country has the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan (GBVF-NSP) which sets out to provide a cohesive strategic framework to guide the national response to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

“But we are currently confronted with a very worrying situation in which South African society seems to be turning against women. There’s almost a low-intensity war against women. If you look at the numbers of women who are victims of rape and violence, the numbers are simply mind-boggling as to what actually is happening in our country.”

At the release of the fourth quarterly crime statistics for the period 1 January – 31 March 2025, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said that rape cases had increased with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal contributing 19.1% and 19.9% respectively to the national total.

However, decreases in rape statistics were recorded in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, and the Western Cape.

This as the police acknowledged that gender-based violence and femicide affects all genders, adding that women remain disproportionately affected by rape, assault GBH, and murder

Additionally, a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study conducted in 2024 revealed that one in three women in South Africa have experienced physical intimate partner violence in their lifetime. According to the report, between July and September 2024, 957 women were murdered, 1 567 survived attempted murders, and 14 366 were assaulted, resulting in grievous bodily harm. In addition, 10 191 cases of rape were reported during this period.

Maluleke also bemoaned the fact that “we have also become a society that is turning or eating its own children if you like, because children are being sold, raped, killed at very high and abnormal rates.”

“There is something broken in our society when it comes to the relationship between men and women; between society and children; men and children; women and children, because some of the cases indicate that.”

In his reflections of Women’s Month, Maluleke said that in South Africa, the face of unemployment and poverty tends to be that of a woman – adding that the elimination of poverty, inequality and employment are the key objectives of the NDP.

“The NDP is not very vocal or very explicit on gender issues in general. It’s not very explicit but to the extent that the NDP is about the elimination of inequality, the ending of poverty and unemployment, it is, at least conscious of the people who are the faces of these problems.”

The commission is the custodian of the NDP.

“The face[s] of unemployment, the face[s] of poverty in this country are women. To that extent, there is an acknowledgement of the problems that affect women but perhaps not enough explicit reference to the broader gender issues that we have come to understand and appreciate very well now. [This] includes violence against women, issues of unequal pay and work that is not regarded as work and therefore unpaid work which tends to be done by women.”

As the country celebrated the 30th anniversary of the first official National Women’s Day on 09 August 2025, Maluleke said it is regrettable that the NDP did not anticipate the levels of violence against women.

“The levels of violence against women have exploded in our faces over the past decade or so and it is indeed regrettable that the NDP could not anticipate this problem to the extent that it has come.

“But I think it is a problem that has since been acknowledged by government and by society at large. There are plans and strategies that have since been developed and that has never been our problem as a country. We don’t lack plans and strategies. We just don’t implement as comprehensibly [and] as constantly as possible,” he explained.

Greater emphasis on women

On whether the NDP of the future will place greater emphasis on women’s issues, he said the existence of the DWYPD is a “massive acknowledgement” and attempt to address the problem.

“The current NDP expires in 2030, and plans are already afoot, certainly conversations have started within the National Planning Commission, about the next plan beyond 2030. I cannot imagine a plan beyond 2030 that does not foreground and not merely include but actually foreground issues such as violence against women and all the issues of inequality between men and women in society that we have come to appreciate so well,” he explained.

He said issues of gender have become as important as issues of race which were perhaps much more foregrounded in the period of the birth of the new democracy.

This as in June, the Commission said it was conducting feminist-led gender-mainstreaming workshops, in search of comprehensive responses to the current fate and state of women and youth.

The workshops were revealing a people “anxious and very concerned with the levels of violence and the continued non-representation of women’s voices at all the levels.”

“Sometimes you have the numbers of women but usually they don’t have roles that are influential or that can change the direction of the country. The question of representativity has now gone beyond numbers. I spoke about the number of women in Parliament but that in itself is not enough. We are beginning to hear voices that are speaking out against the cliché and superficial nature of just numbers. Those are just some of the voices we are hearing.

“We are also realising that class has also become a very important matter in the country. Class in general but also class among and between women is also an issue that needs attention.

“It doesn’t help to have one class of women attempting to represent all classes of women. The same goes for other groups in society. So, intersectionality, inclusion, all of these issues have become much more paramount, and people are beginning to be rather rigorous in discussing them because they want to move beyond the numbers game.”

Asked about the status of women living with disabilities, Maluleke said they are among the most vulnerable in society in terms of inclusivity.

“Certainly, there is room in critical national processes to be more inclusive but also in ordinary day to day engagements and activities.”

Asked what his message to women this month would be, he said: “My message is for the sake of women who marched in 1956. We owe it to them not to give up, but also, we owe it to them to have policies and structures that affirm the dignity of women in this country and their role.

“The message to the women themselves is one of saying thank you. Thank you for your leadership, and thank you for your largely uncelebrated, unremarked but crucial role for the coherence of our society, but also for the economy of this country.
“Women are the backbone of the economy of this country because of the work they do, most of which is not recognised as such. Thank you to the women of the country,” he said.

The post Despite progress, violence against women remains a grave challenge in South Africa appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

While the country has made strides in improving the lives of women, including having women represented in various roles in society, the level of violence against women continues to be of grave concern.

“I may not be able to answer the question of whether we are progressing or regressing, but I do know that we are at a very low end in terms of brokenness in the dignity or indignity with which women and children are being treated in this country at this moment.

“It has gone way beyond a question of criminality and crime,” Deputy Chairperson of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Professor Tinyiko Maluleke, told SAnews, during a recent interview.

As an independent advisory body appointed by the President, the NPC is tasked with advising government and Parliament on matters pertaining to the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030.

The Deputy Chairperson said the country has come to a point where one cannot merely say that the police must do their work.

“Of course, the police must do their job. When young mothers are getting involved in the abuse of their own children and fathers are getting involved in the abuse of their own children at the scale at which we are witnessing in this country, there is something much more deeper that is broken. We speak of social cohesion and maybe this is a devastating illustration of the lack of it,” he told SAnews.

Expanding on whether the country has made progress in tackling women’s issues, Maluleke said this was a mixed bag, adding that the establishment of a Ministry of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) as well as a good number of women in Parliament, were good signs.

He also welcomed the fact that the country has the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan (GBVF-NSP) which sets out to provide a cohesive strategic framework to guide the national response to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

“But we are currently confronted with a very worrying situation in which South African society seems to be turning against women. There’s almost a low-intensity war against women. If you look at the numbers of women who are victims of rape and violence, the numbers are simply mind-boggling as to what actually is happening in our country.”

At the release of the fourth quarterly crime statistics for the period 1 January – 31 March 2025, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said that rape cases had increased with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal contributing 19.1% and 19.9% respectively to the national total.

However, decreases in rape statistics were recorded in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, and the Western Cape.

This as the police acknowledged that gender-based violence and femicide affects all genders, adding that women remain disproportionately affected by rape, assault GBH, and murder

Additionally, a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study conducted in 2024 revealed that one in three women in South Africa have experienced physical intimate partner violence in their lifetime.  According to the report, between July and September 2024, 957 women were murdered, 1 567 survived attempted murders, and 14 366 were assaulted, resulting in grievous bodily harm. In addition, 10 191 cases of rape were reported during this period.

Maluleke also bemoaned the fact that “we have also become a society that is turning or eating its own children if you like, because children are being sold, raped, killed at very high and abnormal rates.”

“There is something broken in our society when it comes to the relationship between men and women; between society and children; men and children; women and children, because some of the cases indicate that.”

The Professor’s comments come as South Africa is at the tail end of Women’s Month.

In his reflections of Women’s Month, Maluleke said that in South Africa, the face of unemployment and poverty tends to be that of a woman – adding that the elimination of poverty, inequality and employment are the key objectives of the NDP.
“The NDP is not very vocal or very explicit on gender issues in general. It’s not very explicit but to the extent that the NDP is about the elimination of inequality, the ending of poverty and unemployment, it is, at least conscious of the people who are the faces of these problems.”

The commission is the custodian of the NDP.

“The face[s] of unemployment, the face[s] of poverty in this country are women. To that extent, there is an acknowledgement of the problems that affect women but perhaps not enough explicit reference to the broader gender issues that we have come to understand and appreciate very well now. [This] includes violence against women, issues of unequal pay and work that is not regarded as work and therefore unpaid work which tends to be done by women.”

As the country celebrated the 30th anniversary of the first official National Women’s Day on 09 August 2025, Maluleke said it is regrettable that the NDP did not anticipate the levels of violence against women.

“The levels of violence against women have exploded in our faces over the past decade or so and it is indeed regrettable that the NDP could not anticipate this problem to the extent that it has come.

“But I think it is a problem that has since been acknowledged by government and by society at large. There are plans and strategies that have since been developed and that has never been our problem as a country. We don’t lack plans and strategies. We just don’t implement as comprehensibly [and] as constantly as possible,” he explained.

Greater emphasis on women

On whether the NDP of the future will place greater emphasis on women’s issues, he said the existence of the DWYPD is a “massive acknowledgement” and attempt to address the problem.

“The current NDP expires in 2030, and plans are already afoot, certainly conversations have started within the National Planning Commission, about the next plan beyond 2030. I cannot imagine a plan beyond 2030 that does not foreground and not merely include but actually foreground issues such as violence against women and all the issues of inequality between men and women in society that we have come to appreciate so well,” he explained.

He said issues of gender have become as important as issues of race which were perhaps much more foregrounded in the period of the birth of the new democracy.

This as in June, the Commission said it was conducting feminist-led gender-mainstreaming workshops, in search of comprehensive responses to the current fate and state of women and youth.

The workshops were revealing a people “anxious and very concerned with the levels of violence and the continued non-representation of women’s voices at all the levels.”

“Sometimes you have the numbers of women but usually they don’t have roles that are influential or that can change the direction of the country.  The question of representativity has now gone beyond numbers. I spoke about the number of women in Parliament but that in itself is not enough. We are beginning to hear voices that are speaking out against the cliché and superficial nature of just numbers. Those are just some of the voices we are hearing.

“We are also realising that class has also become a very important matter in the country. Class in general but also class among and between women is also an issue that needs attention.

“It doesn’t help to have one class of women attempting to represent all classes of women. The same goes for other groups in society. So, intersectionality, inclusion, all of these issues have become much more paramount, and people are beginning to be rather rigorous in discussing them because they want to move beyond the numbers game.”

Asked about the status of women living with disabilities, Maluleke said they are among the most vulnerable in society in terms of inclusivity.

“Certainly, there is room in critical national processes to be more inclusive but also in ordinary day to day engagements and activities.”

Asked what his message to women this month would be, he said: “My message is for the sake of women who marched in 1956. We owe it to them not to give up, but also, we owe it to them to have policies and structures that affirm the dignity of women in this country and their role.

“The message to the women themselves is one of saying thank you. Thank you for your leadership, and thank you for your largely uncelebrated, unremarked but crucial role for the coherence of our society, but also for the economy of this country.
“Women are the backbone of the economy of this country because of the work they do, most of which is not recognised as such. Thank you to the women of the country,” he said.

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One such unit, based in Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal, has been singled out for its commitment to tackling gender-based violence and bringing serial offenders to justice.

Bringing a Serial Rapist to Justice

Between 2014 and 2022, 38-year-old Mzamo Gumede terrorised women in the Empangeni area, raping at least ten victims. His youngest was a 17-year-old girl. Gumede targeted women walking alone, threatening them with either a firearm or a knife before dragging them into nearby bushes to commit the assaults.

Investigators from the Empangeni FCS, led by Lieutenant Colonel Bongiwe Sosibo, painstakingly pieced together evidence, combining forensic results with detailed descriptions from survivors. Their persistence led to Gumede’s identification and arrest.

On 22 October 2024, the Mtubatuba High Court sentenced him to ten life terms for rape, plus 15 years for robbery. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm and his name was added to the National Register for Sex Offenders.

A Record of Results

In the past year alone, the Empangeni FCS unit has secured 30 convictions. Of these, 20 resulted in life sentences, while the remaining ten offenders received a combined total of 275 years in prison.

Lieutenant Colonel Sosibo and her team were praised for their tireless work, often involving long hours and challenging conditions, in pursuit of justice.

The Role of FCS Units

FCS units were established within SAPS to focus on crimes against women, children and other vulnerable groups. They have been described as a crucial development in the fight against gender-based violence, particularly in cases such as rape, which often occur in secluded areas or between acquaintances, making prevention difficult.

Police officials said the Empangeni FCS’s record demonstrates how specialised investigative capacity can make a significant difference in securing justice for victims and helping to restore confidence in law enforcement.

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Conducted in 2024, the report revealed that one in three women in South Africa have experienced physical intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

“These are not just numbers; they represent the lived realities of millions of women, who endure suffering behind closed doors,” department spokesperson, Cassius Selala said late last month.

The study also highlighted higher victimisation among black African women and women with disabilities.

While national statistics indicate a drop in overall violent crime during the second quarter of 2024, gender-based violence (GBV) crimes continue to rise.

According to the report, between July and September 2024, 957 women were murdered, 1 567 survived attempted murders, and 14 366 were assaulted, resulting in grievous bodily harm. In addition, 10 191 cases of rape were reported during this period.

Selala said intimate domestic violence manifests in various forms, often intertwined and escalating over time – ranging from physical and sexual abuse to emotional, psychological, and economic or financial.

He said recognising these different types of abuse is a critical step in addressing the problem.

Selala also warned that the impact of intimate domestic violence extends far beyond physical injuries, and victims often experience a range of severe and long-lasting consequences.

“The greatest achievements in women’s economic progress in recent decades are potentially being eroded by domestic violence. Intimate domestic violence is a pattern of abusive behaviours used by one partner to maintain power and control over another in an intimate relationship.

“This violence is not limited to physical harm; it encompasses a range of coercive and controlling actions that can leave deep and lasting scars,” Selala said.

Globally, the World Health Organisation estimates that one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, most often at the hands of an intimate partner. In South Africa, the figures are particularly grim.

At the end of 2024, the HSRC released the First South African National Gender-Based Violence Study, which detailed the prevalence of physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic violence experienced by women in all nine provinces.

To discuss some of the survey’s findings, the HSRC recently hosted a webinar titled: ‘Addressing poverty and inequality as drivers of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) perpetrated against vulnerable populations in South Africa: The importance of economic empowerment interventions’.

The webinar focused on poverty and inequality as drivers of gender-based violence and femicide perpetrated against women, including women with disabilities, women from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) community, black African women, and older women (over the age of 60).

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Revised GBV&F Action Plan and Oversight Structures

Central to SAPS’ response is its GBV&F Action Plan, which was initially finalised in March 2021 and revised in January 2025. The plan is structured around the pillars of the National Strategic Plan on GBV&F and includes prevention strategies, improved victim support services, and the professionalisation of SAPS responses.

To enforce governance, a National Steering Committee on GBV&F and an Inter-Divisional Forum have been established. These structures are tasked with ensuring accountability and coordination across police divisions.

Short-Term Acceleration Plan and Enforcement Mechanisms

In parallel, SAPS launched a 90-Day Accelerated GBV Plan from 1 May to 31 July 2025. This initiative focuses on enhancing victim services and tightening procedures for dealing with offenders.

SAPS members are also bound by a set of GBV&F-related national instructions. These directives cover a range of issues, including domestic violence, sexual offences, human trafficking, and protection of children. Any violation of these instructions is treated as misconduct and processed under the SAPS Discipline Regulations of 2016.

A joint compliance forum with the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service monitors adherence to the Domestic Violence Act. Routine compliance assessments are also conducted at station level.

SAPS allocated R50 million in the 2024-2025 financial year for GBV&F-related programmes. This budget supports training, strengthens Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) Units, and backs public awareness campaigns.

In a longer-term move, SAPS is implementing an Infrastructure Development Plan (2024–2029), aimed at equipping 95 police stations with victim-friendly facilities.

Several community-oriented projects form part of SAPS’ broader strategy:

• GBV&F Tavern Project: Initiated in 2023/24, this project involves collaboration with tavern owners in 30 high-risk areas. It includes educational murals, awareness messaging and roundtable discussions involving patrons and stakeholders.

• Children’s Awareness and School Safety: SAPS is working with the Department of Basic Education to implement school safety programmes, and has partnered with civil society organisations to create safer community spaces for children.

• Public Awareness Campaigns: SAPS actively participates in key national observances including Child Protection Week, Youth Month, Victims’ Rights Week, Disability Month, and the 16 Days of Activism Against Violence on Women and Children.

To improve public accountability, SAPS operates a national complaints system. Victims and citizens can lodge service-related complaints via the National Service Complaints Call Centre on 0800 333 177, through email at complaintsnodalpoint@saps.gov.za, or by using the “Service Complaints” function on the MYSAPS mobile app. Complaints are logged and tracked with specific timeframes for responses.

While SAPS has outlined a broad and structured approach to tackling GBV&F and crimes against children, the effectiveness of these interventions will ultimately depend on implementation at station level, sustained funding and rigorous oversight. With GBV&F rates still unacceptably high in many precincts, continued monitoring and transparency will be critical to restoring public trust and ensuring meaningful change.

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“Going forward, we will increase the national footprint of sexual offences courts, particularly in rural communities with additional 16 sexual offences courts to be established in line with the recent amendments to the law and two additional TCCs (Thuthuzela Care Centers).

“The Sexual Offences Courts shall assist to deal with the alarming figures of sexual violence in the country and offer support services that are tailor-made for the survivors of sex crime,” Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said.

This as she tabled the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development Budget Vote on Wednesday.

The Minister said that GBVF continues to devastate individuals and communities.

“We have a duty to do all that we can to protect the victims of gender-based violence, especially women and children. In this connection, the department has adopted a victim biased and victim centric approach which puts the victim first to avoid case bungling which gets perpetrators off the hook and secondary victimisation.”

This as over the 2024-25 period, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) recorded 3 697 convictions in relation to sexual offence with over 79% convicted with direct imprisonment, while 44 147 victims were supported at the 66 TCCs across the country.

“In collaboration with [the] SAPS [South African Police Service], the DNA project has processed 60 518 DNA samples to track and deal with repeat sexual offenders and serial rapists.”

Additionally, the department will ensure that all convicted sex offenders are registered in the National Register for Sexual Offenders (NRSO) and initiate a process to review legislation that is currently an inhibitor to the public release of this register.

The department further plans to ensure that protection orders are served by the clerk of the court on the respondent no later than 24 hours from the time the order is received by the clerk of the court.

TRC matters

On matters related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the Minister said it was important for all of society to work together to heal the divisions of the past.

“The TRC made recommendations and in June 2003, Parliament approved the granting of reparations to TRC identified victims in respect of final reparation in the form of a once-off grant of R30 000,00; medical benefits and other forms of social assistance; symbols and monuments; and rehabilitation of communities for purposes of contributing to healing the wounds of the past and restoring human dignity.”

She added that the total amount paid to individuals as interim reparations stands at almost R53 million while the total amount paid for the final once-off individual grants is just below R500 million.

In basic education, the total number of learners funded is 11934 and the payments made to the beneficiaries in respect of this reparation is about R137 million.

The total number of students funded is 1922 and the payments made to the beneficiaries in respect of this reparation is R132 million.

“[The] Gallows Exhumation project out of a total of 180 remains recovered including missing persons, gallows and other cases 76 have been handed over to families and will conclude two that are remaining this year.

On TRC related criminal cases and inquest work, there are total of 158 separate investigations. There are a total seven reopened inquests, 10 formal inquests, six finalised inquests, four pending inquests and two convictions.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa has established A Judicial Commission of Inquiry into allegations regarding efforts or attempts were made to stop the investigation or prosecution of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission cases to be chaired by retired Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe,” said the Minister.

The establishment of the commission of inquiry is part of an agreement reached in settlement discussions in a court application brought by families of victims of apartheid-era crimes.

Fighting fraud and corruption

On matters related to the fight against fraud, the department will increase efforts towards disrupting and reducing the effects of organised crime through a multi-stakeholder approach. It will collaborate closely with key partners, including the SAPS, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

“The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) of the NPA successfully recovered over R3.9 billion in ill-gotten gains through the implementation of the Corporate Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism, thus ensuring that persons and entities do not benefit from unlawful activities and corruption.”

In the financial year 2024/25, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) recovered a cash value of more than R833 million, assets to the value of R 1.3 billion, set aside irregular contracts worth R 5.6 billion and prevented potential loss to the state to tune R 2.7 billion.

“The establishment of the Special Tribunal has allowed for expedited resolutions and substantial recovery for the state, showcasing the Unit’s effectiveness. The SIU will also enhance its anti-corruption through among others establishing a dedicated Lifestyle Audit Unit as a permanent capability to enhance its mandate in detecting unexplained wealth and preventing corrupt practices.”

“This initiative includes the acquisition of an advanced lifestyle audit analytics tool that will increase efficiency and enable high-quality, evidence-based reporting. The Unit will ensure protection of whistle-blowers and SIU personnel integral to upholding the integrity of anti-corruption efforts,” said Kubayi.

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