SA’s Unfinished Struggle: Violence Against Women Remains a National Crisis Despite Progress

Like a stubborn stain clinging to a cherished garment, violence against women in South Africa continues to blot the nation’s social fabric — a deep mark the country still struggles to wash away.

For decades, South Africa has made notable progress in advancing women’s rights, ensuring greater representation in political, economic, and social spheres. Women today occupy leadership positions in Parliament, Cabinet, academia, and the private sector. The establishment of a Ministry of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) was meant to signal a strong commitment to women’s empowerment. Yet, despite these gains, the shadow of gender-based violence (GBV) looms large, undermining the very foundations of democracy and human dignity.

A Deeply Broken Society

Deputy Chairperson of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Professor Tinyiko Maluleke, describes the current crisis as far more than an issue of criminality. Speaking to SAnews, he emphasized that the ongoing violence reflects something profoundly fractured within South African society.

“When young mothers are abusing their own children and fathers are committing violence against their own families, we are dealing with something much deeper than crime,” Maluleke noted. “This is a devastating illustration of the collapse of social cohesion.”

The NPC, an independent advisory body tasked with guiding government on the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030, has long warned that violence against women threatens to derail national progress. Maluleke stressed that while policing and law enforcement are essential, the crisis requires a holistic societal response.

Grim Statistics Paint a Bleak Picture

The scale of gender-based violence is staggering. According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), rape cases rose significantly in the first quarter of 2025, with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal contributing nearly 40% of reported incidents. While provinces such as the Eastern Cape and Western Cape recorded slight decreases, the national numbers remain “mind-boggling,” Maluleke said.

Complementing these statistics, a 2024 Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study revealed that one in three South African women has experienced physical intimate partner violence in her lifetime. Between July and September 2024 alone, 957 women were murdered, 1,567 survived attempted murders, and more than 14,000 women were assaulted to the point of grievous bodily harm. Over 10,000 rape cases were recorded in just three months.

Maluleke lamented that South Africa is also “a society turning on its own children,” with alarmingly high rates of child abuse, trafficking, and murder. “There is something fundamentally broken in the relationship between men and women, and between adults and children in our society,” he said.

Gender Equality: Progress and Gaps

While acknowledging the progress made, Maluleke characterized the country’s trajectory as a “mixed bag.” The representation of women in government and the adoption of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan (GBVF-NSP) are encouraging. Yet the NPC Deputy Chairperson cautioned that numbers alone — such as the proportion of women in Parliament — cannot guarantee meaningful influence.

“We must move beyond the numbers game,” he argued. “Representation should not be symbolic but transformative. Women must hold positions that shape the direction of our society, not just fill quotas.”

Another dimension, he said, is class inequality among women themselves. Middle-class and elite women often dominate leadership roles, while poor and working-class women — who are disproportionately affected by unemployment, poverty, and violence — remain underrepresented in decision-making spaces.

The NDP and the Future Beyond 2030

The National Development Plan (NDP), adopted in 2012, has served as South Africa’s long-term blueprint for eliminating poverty and reducing inequality. However, Maluleke admitted that the NDP did not anticipate the scale of gender-based violence witnessed over the past decade.

“It is regrettable that the NDP did not explicitly address the levels of violence against women. But as we plan for the future beyond 2030, I cannot imagine a new vision that does not foreground gender issues,” he said.

Conversations have already begun within the NPC about a post-2030 plan, which Maluleke believes must place gender equality alongside race and class as defining pillars of South Africa’s democratic future.

Towards Inclusion and Intersectionality

The Commission has been hosting feminist-led gender mainstreaming workshops, aimed at generating comprehensive responses to the plight of women and youth. These engagements reveal deep public concern not only about violence but also about the “continued non-representation of women’s voices” at influential levels of society.

Maluleke noted that women with disabilities remain among the most excluded, often left out of both policy and everyday inclusion. “We must do better in creating spaces that are inclusive of the most vulnerable,” he urged.

Honouring Women’s Legacy

Reflecting on Women’s Month and 30 years since the first official National Women’s Day in 1995, Maluleke stressed that the struggle for gender equality remains far from over.

“My message to women is one of gratitude and encouragement,” he said. “We owe it to the women who marched in 1956 not to give up. Women are the backbone of our economy — doing critical but unrecognized work — and they deserve policies and structures that affirm their dignity.”

He acknowledged that while South Africa has never lacked policies, it has consistently struggled with implementation. “We must not only design strategies but execute them with urgency and commitment,” he said.

A Call for National Renewal

South Africa’s crisis of violence against women demands a collective response that extends far beyond policing. It requires a renewal of societal values, economic justice, stronger implementation of policies, and a culture of accountability.

As the nation looks towards the next phase of its development agenda beyond 2030, Professor Maluleke’s words serve as both a warning and a call to action: South Africa cannot achieve true democracy or sustainable development if half its population continues to live under the daily threat of violence.