24/09/2026
”Violence against women implies not only an assault of the body, mind, or soul, but it also occurs when the conditions are being enabled to facilitate it and when the system – the state and the society, excuses it.”
-Shalu Nigam
It’s and while it’s wonderful to appreciate our diverse heritages and have a braai, we need to consider the we’re leaving behind.
Why does it take 9 women’s bodies for South Africa to take notice, while 569 women were already m*rdered between April and June 2026, another 1,052 survived attempted m*rder and 8,814 r*ape cases of women and children were recorded during these 3 months?
Why does it take the mention of a possible serial k*ller to make these 9 cases go viral when the latest SAPS Crime Statistics recorded 50,511 reported cases during the same 3 months?
❌ Telling women to “not walk alone” and “stay in groups” is not the solution.
❌ Telling women what to wear or to make themselves smaller and less attractive is not the solution.
How many women need to walk on their own to a bus stop or taxi rank at 04:00 in the morning so they can feed their families?
How many girls need to walk to school, alone, so they can obtain an education?
How many women and their children have to drive home at night after attending work functions, school activities etc?
And really, what should we wear when exercising?
Violence against women is not due to race, status or class.
❗️It’s due to the general acceptance that this is just “something that sometimes happens to women” - while society turns a blind eye.
❗️ It’s due to a country not valuing its women high enough to actively take a stand, invest its resources deliberately and abundantly, and enforce a zero tolerance to these atrocities.
❗️It’s due to bad men not respecting the boundaries, bodies and lives of their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters and teaching their sons to do the same through their horrible example.
❗️It’s due to good men remaining silent, excusing their friends’ behaviour, laughing at r*pe jokes, talking down to women of a lower standing, and happily negotiating the words “no” and “stop”…
I honestly believe there isn’t a woman alive in this country who has never experienced an incident where her boundaries were deliberately crossed, where her body was “innocently” touched in a way that made her feel uncomfortable, or where she legitimately feared for her safety or her life.
I can answer: ‘Yes to all of the above’ (and I’m one of the lucky ones who was able to get away in time and didn’t suffer any serious physical or psychological harm).
Is this the heritage we want to leave for our daughters and granddaughters?
Please let it not be.
My daughter and your daughters deserve more.
- Dr M
