Gender-Based Violence

Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, 2022

It has been four (4) years since the Presidential Summit and the adoption of the Presidential Summit Declaration and two years since the National Strategic Plan on Gender- Based Violence and Femicide (NSP GBVF) was signed into effect by the President on 31 April 2020.

It is against this backdrop that President Cyril Ramaphosa has decided to convene the Presidential Summit on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide on 1-2 November 2022, to uphold the principle of accountability, and call those tasked with implementation to account where not enough is being done.

This year’s summit will provide an opportunity for feedback and accountability for issues raised in the last summit and an assessment of the impact of programmes and how to amplify programmes that are making a difference. For example measuring impact against expenditure allows us to prioritise and duplicate programmes that are yielding tangible results. The return on investment also talks to amplification in how we scale up successful projects to roll these out across the country.

Visit the #GBVFSummit2022 website for more information.

National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence & Femicide, 2020

The Gender-based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan (GBVF-NSP) was produced by the Interim Steering Committee established in April 2019 to respond to the gender-based violence and femicide crisis following the historic 2018 Presidential Summit on this subject. First published in 2020.

The NSP aims to provide a multi-sectoral, coherent strategic policy and programming framework to strengthen a coordinated national response to the crisis of gender-based violence and femicide by the government of South Africa and the country as a whole.

The strategy seeks to address the needs and challenges faced by all, especially women across age, sexual orientation, sexual and gender identities; and specific groups such as elderly women, women who live with disability, migrant women and trans women, affected and impacted by the gender-based violence scourge in South Africa.

Its scope focuses on comprehensively and strategically responding to gender-based violence and femicide, with a specific focus on violence against ALL women (across age, physical location, disability, sexual orientation, sexual and gender identity, gender expression, nationality and other diversities) and violence against children and how these serve to reinforce each other.

Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Summit Declaration, 2019

In his speech on the occasion of the National Women’s Day 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that a National Summit on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Femicide would be held between government and civil society to jointly determine a roadmap to end the scourge of gender-based violence and killings of women and girls in our country.

The epidemic of gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa is a national crisis.

The Presidential Summit against Gender-based Violence and Femicide is primarily an outcome of the mobilization efforts by women living in South Africa who, on 1 August 2018, marched in all nine provinces to express the indignation against the increasing levels of gender-based violence and femicide in the country, and the ineffective justice system over the past years.

The Presidential Summit against Gender-based Violence and Femicide is the President’s response to this demand, and is henceforth considered as a historical turning point since it has provided an opportunity for government, civil society and social movements to work together constructively with a common goal of eradicating gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa.

Follow this link to read the full Gender-based Violence and Femicide Declaration, Mar 2019

The Report of the Presidential Summit against Gender-based Violence and Femicide, 2018

The Report of the Presidential Summit against Gender-based Violence and Femicide, 2018

The content of this report reflects the proceedings of the summit – including speeches,
commission discussions and recommendations. It draws out the key messages, views and insights that emerged from the two days. Importantly, it seeks to reflect the voices of survivors who bravely shared their stories, highlighting the systemic violence that woman continue to endure across South Africa.