A large crowd of women filled a Johannesburg park on Friday, gathering to stand against the growing violence targeting women in South Africa, just days before the G20 summit begins.
Dressed in black, demonstrators participated in a 15-minute silent lie-down, representing the 15 women who lose their lives every single day to gender-based violence.
Although South Africa has pushed a progressive agenda on women’s rights during its G20 presidency, the country still battles one of the world’s highest femicide rates, five times the global average, according to UN Women.
“The silence for 15 minutes is one minute for every woman who would have died that day. Statistics show that 15 women are killed daily due to GBV and femicide,” said 19-year-old protest coordinator Courtney Gelderblom.
“For each minute we lay quietly, we are mourning and honouring those we have lost,” she explained.
Celebrities, everyday citizens, and activists joined the peaceful demonstrations held in multiple cities a day before world leaders meet on African soil for the G20.
Many survivors of gender-based violence were present, some crying as they lay on the ground. Others held placards with messages like “Why do you hate us?” and “My body is not your crime scene.”
The movement spread across social media as well, with public figures including Grammy winner Tyla, turning their profile photos purple, the colour symbolizing women’s rights.
The event was organised by the nonprofit Women for Change, which had been campaigning for a month to pressure the South African government into taking serious action.
Their petition gained more than one million signatures.
Following the outcry, the government declared gender-based violence a national disaster on Friday, requiring authorities to respond urgently and allocate strong resources to tackle the crisis.
“The women of our country are crying out for stronger attention to this issue,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a G20 civil-society sideline meeting, where he again referred to GBV as a national emergency.
