MPs Call for Accountability and Societal Unity to End Gender-Based Violence

To mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence and Femicide campaign, parliamentarians called for legislation, policy frameworks, harsh sanctions and collective unity to work together against this scourge.

Opening the debate in the National Assembly, the Deputy Minister of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities, Ms Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, said this debate should not repeat what we already know, because every South Africa knows that gender-based violence and femicide is our country's greatest wound. She called on Members of Parliament to confront the crisis with renewed honesty, radicalism and courage. This year's theme: "Letsema: Men, women, boys and girls working together to end gender-based violence and femicide" carries the full weight of African moral traditions grounded in uBuntu, she maintained.

Noting the legislation passed during the democratic era, such as the Domestic Violence Act, the Sexual Offences Act and the Children Act, among others, has gave women equality before the law, she noted that these laws have been unable to shield women from patriarchy, inequality and an environment that enables violence.

She also took the media to task for its role in perpetuating violence in the way it reports gender-based violence. "Media must take responsibility for how it responds and reports violence, for how it frames victims and how it threatens survivors." She also called out digital technology for deepening these social ills. "In this age of digital harassment, cyber bullying, revenge pornography and AI are used to shame and intimidate women. Let's honour the promulgation of various legislative frameworks that sought to eradicate gender-based violence not with words, but action," she concluded.

Also participating in the debate Umkhonto Wesizwe Party's Dr Khanyisile Litchfield Tshabalala suggested that GBV is part and parcel of capitalism. "Meaning, if capitalism in its highest stage: neoliberalism were living organisms, GBV would be like liver is to enzymes, an inevitable consequence of a capitalist society."

Neoliberalism is a violent system that produces intersectional forms of violence, she continued. Its genesis can be traced back in history to the reduction of white women to commodities of the capitalist economy in Europe. This process destroyed the notion of an extended family and was later replicated in Africa. This was coupled with a retreat of state social services and customary law, leading to the situation we find ourselves in today.

Representing the views of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Ms Busaphi Machi described the GBV crisis as a moral and constitutional crisis. "We call ourselves a peaceful nation, yet our women and children live under siege in the very homes that should give them protection. Until South Africa stops burying a woman in every two hours, the talk about inclusive growth is meaningless. Our national stance on this scourge must thus trigger bold and decisive action. Let's reject silence and take a collective action," she said.

The Patriotic Alliances Ms Jasmine Petersen spoke out the recent protests against GBV, saying "This was not an act of defiance, but of desperation because communities are bleeding, women are being hunted in their own homes and children are being violated." However, she noted that 16 days of activism against GBV are not enough, we need 365 days of accountability.

Ms Heloise Denner (Freedom Front Plus) said the 16 Days of Activism campaign is not uniquely South African, but a global phenomenon. She based this statement on the fact that every 10 minute, somewhere in the world a woman is murdered. This statistic should be an urgent call to action, she said.

Nevertheless, it is true that in South Africa the rate of femicide is five times higher than the global average even though the government has introduced reforms and improved policing and set up the GBV National Council (not yet functional). "This is not a mere oversight; it represented the broken promises women and children whose lives continue to be shuttered by violence," she insisted.

In the presence of the people of the world we declared GBV and femicide a national disaster, said Action SA's Dr Tebogo Letlape, and all of us who are males must hang our heads in shame. He noted that women are the true protectors of children, not men, "because we are the ones who rape our own babies". He continued to stress the fact that men are no longer providers and protectors of their families, "that is evidenced by millions of us who are raised by single mothers." Hence, the indoctrination that women need to be finance by men to be independent should be reversed, he maintained.

Rev Kenneth Meshoe of the African Christian Democratic Party said: "We must not only speak against violence, but we must also build systems that will prevent it from thriving. This, to ensure that those who commit GBV face the full might of the law."

Abel Mputing
26 November 2025