South Africa has declared violence against women a national disaster following an online campaign that culminated in nationwide protests on Friday.
The women were urged to “withdraw from the economy for a day” and lie down for 15 minutes at 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT) in honor of the 15 women who are murdered every day in the country.
The state had refused to make the classification, but changed course after “assessing the persistent and immediate risks to the safety of life posed by ongoing acts of violence.”
South Africa experiences some of the highest levels of gender-based violence (GBV) in the world, with a murder rate of women five times higher than the global average, according to UN Women.
The National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) has classified gender-based violence and femicide as a disaster following “a thorough reassessment of previous reports and updated presentations from state bodies and civil organisations,” said Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa.
The NDMC had earlier said the calls to make the declaration did not meet legal requirements.
Warning: This report contains descriptions of sexual assault.
On Fridays they “lay down” in 15 locations across South Africa, including major cities such as Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
Allies in Eswatini, Kenya and Namibia also expressed support for the protest and say they joined in.
The protesters dressed in black as a sign of “mourning and resistance.”
The protest, called the G20 Women’s Shutdown, was organized by Women for Change, which also spearheaded the online campaign in which many people, including celebrities, changed their social media profile photos to purple, a color often linked to awareness of gender-based violence.
There has also been an online petition, signed by over a million people.
On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the G20 Social Summit that South Africa had “declared gender-based violence and feminicide a national crisis” in 2019.
Shortly after, Hlabisa confirmed that it had been upgraded to a national disaster and that an announcement would be made on Friday, according to Women for Change.
The organization shared a statement on its Instagram page Thursday welcoming the news and telling its followers “we have won” and that their “persistence has been recognized.”
“We have written history together [and] “We have finally forced the country to confront the truth,” he said.
The declaration allows the government to strengthen its support for the current response structures to gender violence and feminicide, implement its contingency agreements and “ensure that all necessary mechanisms are activated to allow [it] effectively manage the catastrophe”.
Before the announcement, Women for Change spokesperson Cameron Kasambala told the BBC that “so many beautiful laws and legislation” had been followed by “a lack of implementation and transparency” by the government.
“We have integrated violence… into our culture [and] in our social norms,” he said.
“Once the government really reacts to this issue, I feel like we’ll be able to see a reaction on the ground. Because they set the precedent and the tone for how the country responds.”
Grammy Award-winning singer Tyla is among the thousands of celebrities and citizens who supported the call and changed their social media profiles. Some have gone further, posting photos of purple hearts, nail polish and even clothing in what has since been dubbed the “purple movement.”
A South African teacher who asked to remain anonymous told the BBC she had taken leave so she could travel to Johannesburg from the Free State province to take part in the silent protest.
It’s important to her because she said she had concerns about simple things like jogging and hopes the protest will “reduce the scourge” of gender-based violence.
However, some women have faced backlash from employers for wanting to participate in the protest. A product designer working for a major cooperation said he was strongly advised against participating.
Some women who feel the government is not doing enough have taken matters into their own hands.
Lynette Oxeley founded Girls on Fire to help women protect themselves through gun ownership. It is legal to possess a firearm in South Africa for self-defense if a person has a valid licence.
Most of the women in her group have been raped, attacked, robbed, or experienced some level of violence.
Prudence joined the group after being raped in 2022.
“I said, ‘No’. I screamed, I cried, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer,” she told the BBC.
Trying to find justice was an “uphill battle” as her case was dropped because her rape kit (the DNA they extract after the crime) was lost.
It is not a “police problem, it is a national problem,” he said.
Although the women are trained to shoot firearms, Oxeley said using a gun was a “last resort.”
“It’s not about defending yourself with a gun. I want women to change what they think about themselves. Stop being silent,” she said.
“Even if you don’t win the fight, at least you’re fighting back.”
