When residents of Mataffin in Mbombela (formerly Nelspruit) woke up on Monday morning, the news spread quickly that 19-year-old Lusanda Mathabela had been stabbed to death.
According to the Women For Change organisation, the teenage daughter of radio DJ Given Mathabela was attacked by two 18-year-old men, one of whom was her boyfriend. Both suspects have been arrested and charged with murder.
Lusanda’s death, shocking as it was, is heartbreakingly familiar. According to reports, in South Africa one in three women will experience gender-based violence (GBV) in their lifetime. In just one year, police recorded 5,578 women and 1,656 children murdered, a grim statistic that ranks the country among those with the highest femicide rates in the world.
Despite government promises and bold policy frameworks, the violence is not slowing down. Five years after the launch of the national strategic plan on gender-based violence and femicide (NSP-GBVF), the government’s flagship response to the crisis, questions are mounting about whether it has made any measurable difference.
When it was unveiled in 2020, the NSP-GBVF was billed as South Africa’s turning point, a comprehensive, multisector strategy to tackle GBV through prevention, survivor support, justice reform and co-ordinated leadership.
It was meant to unite the government, civil society and law enforcement behind one goal: ending violence against women and children. But implementation has been uneven, funding has been inconsistent and co-ordination has been fragmented.
We cannot keep burying our daughters while the government hides behind policies that mean nothing on the ground.
— Women For Change
According to the University of Cape Town’s recently released South African Child Gauge, South Africa’s policies and research on violence against women and children remain “siloed”, with different agencies using different frameworks, terminologies and priorities.
The report warns that this fragmented approach is undermining progress, calling for policymakers to “break the silos, break the cycle” and pursue an integrated strategy that addresses how violence against women and children intersects.
On paper, South Africa has one of the most comprehensive legal frameworks in the world to protect women and children, from the Domestic Violence Act to the Children’s Act and the national strategic plan (NSP). But the Child Gauge cautions that the vision has not translated into reality. “Policies are often siloed and focused on criminal justice rather than prevention and healing,” the report notes.
This failure of implementation, experts say, has left survivors without consistent access to justice or support. The cost of South Africa’s epidemic of violence, both human and economic, is staggering.
“Approximately one in four women and nearly one in every two children have experienced violence in their homes, schools or intimate relationships,” said Lucy Jamieson, senior researcher at the Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
Jamieson said the long-term effects are devastating. “Children who experience violence face a higher risk of mental health problems, substance abuse and chronic illness. They also struggle to learn and socialise, which hinders their potential.”
She added that the economic cost of violence is equally severe. “Violence against children was estimated to cost nearly 5% of South Africa’s GDP in 2015. Yet funding for prevention and protection services remains inadequate and is being steadily eroded by austerity cuts.”
Cassius Selala, spokesperson for the department of women, youth & persons with disabilities, said a total of R51.47bn was allocated to GBVF interventions between 2020 and 2025. “So far, R36.35bn has been spent across the six pillars of the NSP, including accountability, prevention, justice, response, economic empowerment and data management,” he said.
Selala acknowledged challenges in implementation. “Limited and uneven funding, capacity constraints and co-ordination issues have slowed delivery. But we have strengthened planning and accountability mechanisms and established the GBVF response fund to mobilise resources.”
The department had also trained 21 municipalities to implement the NSP reporting mechanism and double their GBV prevention programmes from 6,300 to 12,600.
Selala said measurable goals include:
- Ensuring 99 Thuthuzela Care Centres are fully operational;
- Standardising psychosocial services across provinces;
- Rolling out a survivor-centred case management system; and
- Linking GBVF survivors to economic empowerment programmes through 40% preferential procurement for women-owned businesses.
But civil society groups remain sceptical. Many say co-ordination between departments remains weak, accountability is limited and progress is largely invisible to those most affected.
The Child Gauge report notes that co-ordination structures, such as interministerial committees and technical teams, “have been ineffective in improving service delivery and, in some cases, have been dysfunctional”. It blames administrative inefficiencies, weak leadership and poor problem-solving for the lack of tangible progress.
Women For Change, which has been documenting femicide cases across South Africa, said the country’s femicide rate is six times higher than the global average and rising. In April the organisation marched to the Union Buildings with a casket symbolising the voices of more than 200,000 South Africans demanding justice and urgent action.
“We cannot keep burying our daughters while the government hides behind policies that mean nothing on the ground,” the organisation said this week, announcing plans for a national shutdown in protest.
As the country marks five years since the launch of the NSP-GBVF, the crisis of gender-based violence remains unrelenting and the cost, both human and economic, continues to grow.
The tragic death of Mathabela is yet another reminder that, for many South African women and girls, policy promises have not translated into safety, protection or justice.
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