Every 24 hours in South Africa, fifteen women lose their lives to violence. This estimate reflects recent data highlighting the country’s rising femicide rates, with more than 5 500 women killed between April 2023 and March 2024.
When a country loses lives at this scale daily, the question is no longer whether there is a crisis, but why it is not treated like one. The Women for Change Shutdown confronts this reality with a clear message: GBVF is a national emergency and South Africa must respond to it as such.
Set for 21 November 2025, the shutdown is a national action led by a survivor-centred organisation, Women for Change. (The full call to action is available here: https://womenforchange.co.za/petition-gbvf-national-disaster.) It calls for, among other actions, a 15-minute standstill at midday in honour of the women murdered each day in South Africa. It builds on the activism that shaped the 2018 #TotalShutdown, when women across the country demanded a coordinated response to GBVF. Seven years later, the violence has not eased. It has intensified. And the call is rising again.
The University of Fort Hare supports this call because we know what loss feels like. We carry it in our classrooms, our residences and our memory. The murder of Nosicelo Mtebeni in 2021 stunned the nation. The murder of Siphosethu Mqombothi and Nontokozo Mokae in 2023 broke the hearts of our community. They were not statistics. They were young women who walked our corridors, studied in our lecture rooms and dreamed of futures their families believed in. Their absence is a sharp reminder that the crisis outside our gates is the crisis inside our gates too.
We support the Women for Change action because we cannot pretend that the violence happens somewhere else. It happens here. It happens to our students, our neighbours, our daughters, our colleagues. And the Eastern Cape, where UFH sits, carries some of the highest burdens of GBVF in the country. Rural communities, small towns and young women in schooling and universities face disproportionate harm. Silence would be a betrayal.
UFH believes there are five reasons we must stand with Women for Change:
- We owe it to those we have lost.
Nosicelo, Siphosethu, Nontokozo and the many other students we have lost remind us of the reality that universities are not immune to GBVF. We carry their names with us because we must. We cannot look away from what their deaths represent. - The Eastern Cape needs strong voices in this fight.
Our province has long battled high levels of violence. Institutions here must be louder, braver and more consistent in demanding national action. - Universities are not bystanders.
We shape how young people think about justice, dignity and human rights. When we stand with survivor-led movements, we give weight to the call for change. - Internal interventions will never be enough without national coordination.
UFH continues to strengthen reporting pathways, digital safety awareness, survivor support and partnerships with SAPS, DSD and NGOs. But these efforts need a national system that works, responds and protects. - The country needs decisive action not symbolism.
Declaring GBV a national disaster would unlock faster coordination, focused budgets and leadership across departments. GBVF meets every threshold for such a declaration. The daily death toll proves it.
On 21 November, UFH will stand still with the country. UFH will participate in the shutdown through a campus solidarity pause at midday and a remembrance focus honouring UFH community members lost to GBVF. Staff and students who are able to join will take part in the 15-minute standstill. The university will also support community remembrance activities in Alice. This is not a gesture. It is a declaration of where we stand.
South Africa has reached a point where slow progress and fragmented interventions are no longer sufficient. Declaring GBV a national disaster will not solve the crisis immediately, but it will create the coordination, urgency and accountability needed to confront it. It will also acknowledge the scale of loss already carried by families and communities across the country.
UFH supports Women for Change because silence is not neutral. It is harmful. We support the Shutdown because every woman lost is a reminder of what is at stake. We support this call because survivors deserve decisive action. The country needs leadership matched to the reality women face daily.
The time for awareness has passed. The time for emergency action is NOW!
Written By:
Nonhlanhla Sibanda – Moyo (Director: GBV Prevention and Gender Diversity office) & Ntibi Maepa – (Deputy Registrar, Legal Affairs): University of Fort Hare