South Africa: Gender-based violence declared a national disaster

by Seita Morimoto | 5 December 2025 | Gender/sex, GNV News, Sub-Saharan Africa

GNV News — December 5, 2025

On November 21, 2025, the South African government’s National Disaster Management Centre announced that gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) had been classified as a “national disaster.” The announcement came amid protests timed to coincide with the G20 leaders’ summit beginning the next day in Johannesburg, South Africa.

This protest was led by the nonprofit Women for Change (WFC), which seeks to eradicate GBVF. Many participants staged a strike wearing black clothing to signify mourning and resistance, and at noon they lay down for a 15-minute moment of silence. This was intended as a protest against the fact that an average of 15 women are killed each day in South Africa. There was also an effort to change social media profile backgrounds to purple as a sign of opposition to GBVF, and the movement saw broad momentum, with many celebrities taking part.

GBVF remains a major problem in South Africa. According to a 2024 Human Sciences Research Council report, roughly one in three women in South Africa experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. It is also the case that victims of GBVF and their families sometimes do not report incidents and handle them privately, which prevents legal protection and accurate understanding of the scale of harm, creating a vicious cycle of violence, it has been noted.

With GBVF now declared a “national disaster,” the South African government will be able, under disaster management law, to call on existing government agencies to strengthen measures against GBVF. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa has emphasized both the need for unified action to end GBVF and the need for men to act to change the social attitudes and structures that enable violence against women.

Learn more about femicide around the world → “Expansion of feminist movements in Latin America”

Learn more about coverage of discrimination against women → “International reporting on discrimination against women”

Learn more about articles related to gender and sexuality → “GNV: Gender and sexuality”