Press Statement | South Africa Does Not Need More Warnings. It Needs Action!

Date: 15/09/2026


The recent murders of women in the Kempton Park area are a stark reminder that gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) remains one of South Africa’s most urgent human rights crises. These deaths are not isolated tragedies. They are part of a pattern that continues to deny women their safety, dignity, freedom, and, too often, their lives.

 

In response, the South African Police Service (SAPS) urged women to be more vigilant and take greater responsibility for their safety. SAPS needs to be aware – women in South Africa are already vigilant – hypervigilant. They have been vigilant for years. Women already plan their movements, share their locations, avoid certain places, and live with a level of caution that most people cannot imagine.

The problem is not that women are not careful enough.

We know this because women continue to be attacked while going about ordinary, everyday activities. We know this because Uyinene Mrwetyana was murdered while collecting a parcel at a post office. We know this because women are assaulted in their homes, on public transport, at work, and in public spaces. Violence against women is not caused by women failing to take precautions. It is caused by perpetrators and enabled by systems that fail to prevent, respond to, and punish these crimes.

The reality is that millions of South African women do not have the luxury of staying home or limiting their movements. Every day, women wake up around  4am, walk in the dark, wait for taxis on unsafe streets, and travel long distances to earn a living and support their families. Domestic workers, healthcare workers, cleaners, retail workers, carers, farmworkers, and informal traders cannot simply withdraw from public life in the name of safety. Women should not have to choose between putting food on the table and staying alive.Women should not have to choose between living their lives and staying alive.

Women cannot be told to take responsibility for preventing their own murders. The responsibility for addressing GBVF cannot be delegated to women or outsourced to communities. It rests first and foremost with the State and its institutions. SAPS has a constitutional and statutory duty to prevent crime, protect communities, investigate cases effectively, and ensure perpetrators are brought to justice. Advising women to be more cautious cannot become a substitute for fulfilling those obligations. 

Importantly, South Africa does not lack a plan. The National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP GBVF) was developed through extensive consultation and designed as a comprehensive, multi-sectoral response to GBVF, addressing prevention, protection, support services, accountability, and access to justice. 

The question is not whether we know what needs to be done.

The question is why the Plan remains inadequately implemented, funded, and resourced.

Why has the NSP not been fully costed and funded in line with the scale of the crisis? Why are GBVF budgets not consistently ring-fenced and protected? Why do shelters, prevention programmes, support services, and specialised policing responses continue to operate under severe resource constraints? And where is the accountability when departments fail to fulfil their obligations?  We cannot stand for more gimmicks and press statements talking about the issue. We need action. We have been saying this ad nauseam since 2018 with the 24 Demands.

As Lawyers for Human Rights, we reject the notion that women are primarily responsible for preventing the violence committed against them. South Africa does not need more advice directed at women. It needs a State that delivers on the commitments it has already made. It needs properly funded interventions, effective policing, accountability, and justice. 

Women should not be expected to make themselves smaller, quieter, or less visible in order to survive. Every woman has the right to work, travel, and participate in public life freely and safely. Every woman has the right to live freely and safely. The responsibility to make that right a reality does not lie with women. It lies with all of us, and especially with the State.

ENDS.

For more information and enquiry contact: mpho@lhr.org.za

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