By Mulalo Luvhimbi
Women For Change has announced a nationwide Women’s Shutdown on Saturday, calling on women, LGBTQI+ people and supporters to mobilise against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
Under the campaign message “Our Rights. Our Voices. Our Democracy”, the main march will start at Wits University and end at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg.
The shutdown comes almost a year after the previous mobilisation, which preceded the government’s declaration of GBVF as a National Disaster on November 20, 2025.
Women For Change said the campaign was now focused on holding the government accountable for implementing its commitments to address the crisis.
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The organisation is demanding a comprehensive public implementation plan detailing the costs, timelines, allocation of funding, responsibilities of government departments and the officials accountable for delivering on the commitments.
The plan should include immediate protection measures for victims, clear targets for the next 12 months, statistics on women and children murdered during the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years, and long-term interventions extending to 2030.
It is also demanding quarterly public progress reports to allow citizens to monitor the government’s response.
The organisation has called on women, LGBTQI+ people and supporters across the country to stop working and conducting business where possible and participate in activities demanding urgent government action to end violence against women and children.
A symbolic empty coffin, called the Unburied Casket, will lead the march in remembrance of women killed through femicide and families still waiting for justice.
At noon, participants at Constitution Hill and across the country will lie down for 15 minutes to remember the approximately 15 women murdered every day in South Africa.
Women For Change founder Sabrina Walter said more than 1.1 million people had previously demanded government action, but almost a year later, communities were still asking for answers.
She said the Constitution guaranteed everyone the rights to life, dignity, equality and freedom from violence, and that citizens had the right to demand that government fulfil its responsibilities.
The organisation has also revived the Purple Movement, urging people in South Africa and around the world to change their social media profile pictures to purple as a symbol of solidarity against GBVF.
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Women For Change said women and children continued to experience abuse and killings despite the declaration of GBVF as a National Disaster, raising concerns about the government’s ability to protect vulnerable people.
In 2025, more than 1.1 million people signed a petition calling on the government to declare GBVF a National Disaster. The government made the declaration on November 20, 2025.
The organisation described the declaration as a significant victory for public mobilisation but said the focus had now shifted to whether government was implementing its promises.
It said the implementation plan must also incorporate the original demands contained in the petition, including stronger courts and stricter bail conditions for alleged abusers, school education on GBVF and consent, improvements to the National Register for Sex Offenders, increased funding for shelters and survivor support services, and greater accountability within the police and courts.
Walter said ending GBVF was not only about women’s safety but also about human rights, justice and government accountability.
She said democracy could not promise equality and freedom while women and children continued to live in fear of violence.
The organisation said it would formally hand over its expanded demands to the government at the end of Saturday’s march and set a deadline for action, implementation and accountability in response to the National Disaster declaration.
“In 2025, we demanded recognition. In 2026, we demand implementation, funding and accountability,” Women For Change said.
