Across South Africa, women and survivors of gender-based violence are still screaming into silence — not because nothing is being said, but because what needs to be heard is deliberately ignored.
And now, in the very hour when women, girls, LGBTQIA+ persons, and survivors like myself are crying out for justice, the state moves ahead with implementing a GBVF Council that does not truly represent us — a council born out of broken consultation, conflicting interpretations of its own mandate, and an Act so flawed that even the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities raised concerns. And yet, the process marches on.
We ask: What kind of justice is this, when survivors must still fight to be heard, even in structures meant to protect us?
We are told this Council is a “step forward.” But how can it be, when those most affected by gender-based violence and femicide — people like me, and like the many survivors and civil society partners I work alongside daily — are being left out of the very decisions that will shape our safety, our rights, and our futures? When grassroots organisations, community-based advocates, and exhausted field workers are reduced to observers in a process they’ve bled for? When activists and survivors are consulted for show, but not for substance?
This is not what Pillar 1 of the National Strategic Plan on GBVF promised. Pillar 1 called for accountability, coordination, and leadership — leadership that is feminist, inclusive, and grounded in community voice. What we are being handed instead is a Council built behind closed doors, stitched together with bureaucratic threads and state-driven processes that erase the very people this law was meant to serve.
We will not accept it.
We say it loudly, clearly, and with purpose: Not in our name.
As someone who has survived gender-based violence, and who continues to work every day with survivors and communities devastated by it, I know firsthand what exclusion feels like. I know what it is to march for change, only to be silenced in the room where decisions are made.
To the women of South Africa — to my sisters in this struggle — the state cannot continue to write policy about us without us. Our pain is not paperwork. Our blood is not ink for flawed legislation. Our safety will not be negotiated behind parliamentary curtains.
We are calling on all women, activists, survivors, and organisations to sign the public statement demanding a people-centred GBVF Council. One that reflects our lived realities. One that answers to communities. One that aligns not with political convenience, but with Pillar 1’s vision for a survivor-led, accountable system.
As The Great People of South Africa, a survivor-led community-based organisation working in the gender-based violence space, we have signed this statement. We stand firmly in solidarity with our sister organisations across civil society. We are horrified by the government's actions and the blatant sidelining of those most affected. We are not impressed — we are outraged. Promulgating and enacting such a Council without addressing these serious concerns is a betrayal of justice. We reject this process in its current form, and we commit ourselves to pushing this movement forward. We are part of this fight — because we live it every day.
We call on all sectors — including business, labour, faith, donors, youth, and traditional leadership — to join this principled stance. Together, we can ensure a Council that is capable of realising our aspirations to end Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.
Let us be clear: this is not about disengaging from the state. This is about demanding better. This is about saying: we have marched, we have bled, we have buried our daughters — and we are done watching our trauma be mismanaged by systems that do not see us.
To those in power: we are not asking. We are demanding.
A people-centred GBVF Council is not a luxury — it is a necessity. Without it, the National Strategic Plan becomes just another document collecting dust, another promise made to women that goes unfulfilled. Without it, the cries from rural communities, townships, and informal settlements will continue to echo unanswered.
We do not want a seat at the table. We built the table.
Sign the statement. Share the message. Mobilise your circles. This is our fight. And we will not be silent.
#GBVF #PeopleCentredCouncil #WomenLead #NSPGBVF #Pillar1Justice #AccountabilityNow #CivilSocietyVoices #NotInOurName
