South African women protest gender-based violence ahead of G20 summit

Hundreds of women gathered in a Johannesburg park on Friday to protest violence against women in South Africa, ahead of the G20 summit this weekend. 

Demonstrators wore black and staged a 15-minute silent lie-down protest, symbolizing the 15 lives lost daily to gender-based violence in the country. 

South Africa, while putting forward a progressive agenda on gender issues during its G20 presidency, has a femicide rate that is five times higher than the global average, according to UN Women, and has grappled with the problem for decades.

"The silence for 15 minutes is a minute of silence for every woman that would have fallen within the day, because statistics have shown that 15 women die very day at the hands of GBV and femicide," said 19-year-old protest coordinator Courtney Gelderblom.

"So every minute that we lie in silence, it is to mourn and to honour those that we have lost," she added.

Ordinary South Africans, celebrities and activists participated in the nonviolent action across several cities a day before the first G20 world leaders meeting on the African continent.

Protesters also included survivors of gender violence, some of whom wept while they laid down. Others raised placards reading “Why do you hate us?” and “My body is not your crime scene.”

Citizens also rallied behind the call on social media with many, like the Grammy-award winning singer Tyla, turning their profile picture to purple — the colour symbolising women's rights.

Organized by the nonprofit group Women for Change, the protest was the culmination of a month of lobbying and pressure from the group, asking the South African government to take action. 

A protest petition received more than a million signatures.  

In response, the government on Friday declared gender-based violence a national disaster, a move that orders authorities to take action and dedicate resources to combat it.

“The women of our country are crying out that they need much more focus on the issue,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a G20 sideline summit for civil society this week, where he referred to gender-based violence as a national crisis.