South Africa Reaffirms Commitment to Ending Gender-Based Violence and Femicide

Pretoria, The Gulf Observer: The South African government has reaffirmed its commitment to ending Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) through the operationalisation of the National Council on GBVF, aimed at providing a permanent, statutory and multisectoral mechanism to coordinate, monitor and strengthen the country’s response to the scourge.

Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga said the inaugural meeting of the National Council on Monday marked a defining moment in South Africa’s ongoing fight against GBVF and reflected the government’s determination to translate constitutional rights into lived realities for women and girls.

Addressing the media on progress in operationalising the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, Chikunga said the establishment of the Council represented more than the creation of another public institution.

“This is not simply the establishment of another public institution. It is the institutionalisation of a national commitment to eradicate one of the gravest violations of human rights in democratic South Africa,” she said.

The National Council has been established under the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Act, 2024 (Act No. 9 of 2024), following years of advocacy by women’s movements, civil society organisations, faith communities, labour, traditional leaders, business and government.

Chikunga said the Council would serve as a permanent, statutory and multisectoral mechanism through which South Africa would coordinate, monitor and strengthen its national response to GBVF.

“It embodies the collective determination of the nation to ensure that women, children and vulnerable persons can live free from fear, abuse, violence and discrimination,” she said.

She noted that the establishment of the Council gave practical effect to the National Strategic Plan on GBVF 2020-2030, which recognises the need for a coordinated institutional mechanism capable of sustaining a national response beyond electoral cycles and departmental boundaries.

The Council brings together representatives from government, women’s rights organisations, survivor advocacy groups, community-based organisations, faith-based organisations, disability rights organisations, youth formations, LGBTQIA+ advocacy structures, research and academic institutions, traditional and community leadership formations, business, labour and development partners.

Chikunga stressed that the Council had not been established merely to provide sectoral representation, but to serve the Constitution, the legislation, women and girls, survivors of GBVF and the people of South Africa.

She said government representation would ensure policy coherence, intergovernmental coordination and implementation across the state, while civil society would help ensure that the experiences of women, girls, survivors and communities remained central to decision-making.

“The Act itself recognises the indispensable role of the private sector in combating GBVF. The private sector contributes resources, innovation, workplace interventions, economic empowerment initiatives and strategic partnerships necessary to sustain a comprehensive national response,” she said.

Scale of GBVF

Chikunga said the Council was beginning its work against the backdrop of compelling evidence highlighting the scale of GBVF in South Africa.

The Human Sciences Research Council’s First South African National Gender-Based Violence Prevalence Study, released in November 2024, found that approximately 7.3 million women aged 18 and above had experienced physical violence during their lifetime, while more than 2.15 million had experienced sexual violence.

The study further found that women with disabilities faced particularly high levels of vulnerability, with the prevalence of sexual violence by a lifetime partner twice as high among women with disabilities compared with women without disabilities.

The latest South African Police Service crime statistics also recorded 50,511 GBVF cases during the first quarter of the 2026/27 financial year, with 30,736 cases resulting in arrests or referrals to the National Prosecuting Authority.

“These are not just statistics. These are South African women, daughters, sisters and girl children. Above all, they are South African citizens whose constitutional rights have been violated,” Chikunga said.

She said the prevalence study, together with the latest SAPS statistics, supported President Cyril Ramaphosa’s assessment that the country was facing a crisis requiring stronger measures to protect women and girls and advance their rights.

Council’s Initial Priorities

As part of its initial priorities, the National Council will work towards concluding a Shareholder Compact, which Chikunga described as an important accountability mechanism that would define the Council’s expected outcomes and establish how success would be measured.

The Council will also develop a comprehensive costing framework to determine the resources required to combat GBVF, address existing gaps and build a strong national investment case.

Chikunga said good governance, ethical leadership, transparency and fiduciary responsibility would remain central to the Council’s work as it sought to strengthen the country’s institutional response to gender-based violence and femicide.