South Africa: We have been here before and we are tired

We have been in this situation before.

And every single time, we are told the same thing. We hear the same speeches from our President, our Ministers and the government as a whole. We are promised action. We are promised change. We are promised that women will be protected. And then?

Nothing changes fast enough.

Women continue to be raped. Women continue to be murdered. Women continue to disappear. Families continue to sit in courtrooms waiting for justice. Survivors continue to navigate systems that were supposed to protect them.

We have the 24 demands. And how many of them were met?

The #TheTotalShutdown movement on August 1 2018, delivered a memorandum featuring 24 demands to the government to make the government address systemic government negligence and failures regarding violence against women, children and the LGBTQIA+ individuals. To make them aware of the violence being perpetrated against women – because clearly, they were not aware.

Women marched.
Women protested.
Women shouted.
Women demanded.
Women cried.
Women told the government that they were dying.

And in 2025, women did it again through Women for Change.

Again, women had to take to the streets to say what should have been obvious: women are not safe. South Africa is a crime scene for women to live in.

GBVF was declared a “national disaster” by President Ramaphosa so many times but nothing has changed. And while the declaration was welcomed as recognition of the seriousness of the crisis, women have every right to ask: what has actually changed for us?

It is September 2026.
And here we are again.
Another moment of outrage.
Another round of statements.
Another speech.
Another promise.

Men telling women to be vigilant instead of calling each other out for murdering us.
Men telling women to not jog, not walk alone, not to fetch parcels at the post office, not to get into an uber alone. 

We are tired.

Clearly, we are on our own as women.

We hear one speech every single time, and honestly, we are tired of it. We are tired of promises. We are tired of your same speech.

We do not need another speech telling us how government condemns violence against women. We know you can condemn.

We need you to act.

Try doing your jobs, perhaps?

Stop telling us not to walk alone.
Stop telling us to how we should dress.
Stop telling us to be careful.
Stop telling us to share our locations.
Stop teaching women how to survive men.

Start telling these men to stop killing us.

Tell men to stop raping us.
Tell men to stop abusing us.
Tell men that violence against women has consequences.
And then, punish them.

We are tired of watching perpetrators move through systems while survivors and families are left carrying the consequences.

We are tired of hearing about rehabilitation as though rehabilitation automatically means someone can simply return to the community and everything is fine.

Go back to the community and do what exactly?

Kill again?
Rape again?
Abuse again?

These are the questions women are asking. And we deserve answers.

We deserve a justice system that takes our lives seriously. We deserve investigations that are done properly. We deserve courts that function. We deserve survivor-centred services. We deserve accountability when systems fail us.

We should not have to become activists simply to convince government that women deserve to live. But we have become activists because we have had no choice.

We have marched because we were ignored.
We have protested because speeches were not enough.
We have documented cases because people need to know what is happening.
We have stood with survivors because too many systems have failed them.
And we will continue to speak.

Government, you are too relaxed.
You are too quiet.
Women are dying and you continue to give us speeches.

Or are you on ashwagandha, my dear?

Because while you seem relaxed, we are angry.
We are exhausted.
We are grieving.
We are fighting.

And we are tired of fighting a fight that should never have been ours alone.

We have been here before.
We have told you before.
We have demanded before.

This time, we do not want another promise.

We want action.
We want accountability.
We want justice.
And most importantly, WE WANT TO LIVE.

(Written by Itumeleng Maloka (Gender links Intern) South Africa)