Govt must declare GBV, femicide a national disaster, say activists

CAPE TOWN - Gender-based violence (GBV) activists are demanding the government declares GBV and femicide a national disaster.

The Women for Change group said the government must step up and do more to address the scourge.

They’re planning to gather outside the Union Buildings on Friday, to make their voices heard.

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According to police crime statistics, between April 2023 and May 2024, on average 117 cases of rape were reported daily in the country.

The spokesperson for Women for Change, Cameron K, said not enough is being done to address and fix the issue.  

“But as an organisation, this is something we face every single day. We have a lot of stories coming in of horrific experiences of children, parents, and mothers coming to us explaining what's happened to them - the experience of women, the experience of the LBGTQIA+ community.”

She added that by declaring femicide and GBV a national disaster, more will be done to help victims.  

“The hope is that if we declare it a state of emergency, similar to how we saw in COVID how the government mobilised so many different sectors. That's what we want to see with GBV because it’ll mean much faster enacting of bills, much more funding towards organisations that are tackling GBV, there's much more need for accountability towards the government.”