As South Africa prepares to host the G20 Summit, the country finds itself confronting a truth far more urgent than any diplomatic agenda: gender-based violence and femicide remain a relentless national emergency.
While global leaders gather to discuss economic priorities and geopolitical tensions, the ANC Women’s League has issued a stark ultimatum to the government, declare GBVF a state of disaster by Friday or face mass disruption.
Some will call the timing inconvenient. But there is nothing inconvenient about women demanding to live.
The ANCWL’s warning is not a political stunt nor an attempt to overshadow the summit. It is a direct response to a state that has, for years, treated GBVF as a crisis in name only. Women continue to bury daughters, sisters and mothers while policymakers deliberate endlessly, hide behind process, or prefer that these horrors be handled “internally”, out of sight and off the agenda.
But GBVF is not an internal matter. It is not a side issue. It is the issue that defines who we are as a nation.
Holding space for this crisis during the G20 Summit is not a disruption, it is a demand for dignity in a world that often looks away from women’s suffering. If South Africa wants to present itself as stable, democratic and investment-ready, it must first confront the violence eating at its foundations.
The National Disaster Management Centre’s recent refusal to classify GBVF as a national disaster, citing legal definitions and technical thresholds, may be procedurally correct but is morally hollow. When thousands of women live in fear and hundreds are killed every year, the question should not be whether the law accommodates the crisis, but whether the law needs to change to reflect the country’s lived reality.
The ANCWL’s decision to march on Constitutional Hill on the eve of the G20 is an act of deliberate visibility. It forces the nation, and the world, to confront the human cost behind the statistics. It refuses to let GBVF remain a background issue while leaders discuss growth, trade and global cooperation. After all, what is economic progress worth when half the population is unsafe in their own homes?
Declaring GBVF a national disaster will not solve everything. But it would signal that government is prepared to treat this pandemic with the urgency it demands. It would unlock resources, prioritise coordination, and, most importantly, send a message to survivors that their lives matter.
In this moment, holding space for GBVF is not just the responsibility of activists. It is the duty of every citizen, policymaker and leader. If we cannot make room for this conversation now, when the world is watching, then we must admit that we never intended to make room at all.
South Africa must choose courage over convenience. Visibility over silence. Action over promises. Because the cost of looking away, even for a weekend, is already far too high.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.