Masifundise Stands Against Gender Based Violence
For immediate release
23 September 2026
Over the past week, the brutal reality of gender-based violence has once again been brought into sharp focus, as the bodies of ten women have been found in the Ekurhuleni metropole. Their deaths have once again brought South Africa’s gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) crisis into sharp focus, but this crisis did not begin last week. It is a persistent reality. South Africa remains one of the most violent societies globally, with the vast majority of this directed at women, girls and persons of the LGBTQIA+ community. The past week has, again, sparked debate and calls for urgent action.
Gender-based violence is a global crisis, one that impacts women in fishing communities, who often work in remote and unprotected areas as part of their livelihoods, directly. Fisherwomen often experience harassment, discrimination, intimidation and violence while trying to sustain their livelihoods and participate equally in the sector.
GBVF was classified as a national disaster in November 2025. Almost a year later, the continued killing of women demands more than the bare minimum statements of condemnation our government has issued. It demands accountability, properly resourced institutions, effective investigations, protection for survivors and victims and real action to address the conditions that allow persistent violence against women, girls and the LGBTQIA+ community in the first place.
Masifundise and Coastal Links recognises the risks faced by women in fishing communities and stands with the families and communities mourning these women who have been affected by this pandemic of abuse, and with all women across South Africa who continue to demand the right to live, work and move freely without fear.
Our oceans, our communities and our homes must be places where women can live and work with dignity and safety. We call for immediate action against perpetrators of GBVF to ensure that every woman whether home, at work, or in the ocean can live and move with no fear. Safety should not be the sole onus of women, women’s bodies cannot continue to be crime scenes and our resounding calls cannot continue to fall on deaf ears.
Masifundise and Coastal Links calls on the government and all relevant authorities to act with urgency, ensure justice for survivors and victims, and put a stop to this cycle of violence. A government cannot declare GBVF a national disaster and then treat subsequent killing as an isolated tragedy. A national disaster requires national response.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Trishé Farmer (Media Intern)
trishe@masifundise.org.za
Nobathembu Ndzengu (Media Officer)