Poet and healer: vangile gantso, says the G20 Women’s National Shutdown campaign is essential due to the
lack of safety of women in South Africa. Photo: Gerard Nartey Photography
The colour purple usually conjures up the image of Jacaranda trees flowering, particularly at this time of year. But this year, things are different.
The purple adorning many profile pictures on social media platforms signals a resounding call – for Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) – to be declared a National Disaster.
Women and members of the LGBTQI+ community are being raped, abused, and killed at rates higher than almost anywhere else in the world. In just one year, 5 578 women were murdered – a 33.8% increase from the previous year. South Africa’s femicide is six times higher than the global average.
Yet this violence is not treated as a global or national emergency according to Women for Change (WFC), the organisation behind the G20 Women’s Shutdown taking place on the 21st November.
On this day all women and members of the LGBTQI+ community across South Africa are encouraged to refrain from all paid and unpaid work in workplaces, universities, and homes, and to spend no money for the entire day to demonstrate the economic and social impact of their absence.
The emphasis is that this is not a rally but a shutdown. Instead of marching, the day entails nationwide symbolic actions such as wearing black; changing your profile picture to purple and a 15-minute silent standstill at 12pm.
The campaign is strategically positioned at a time when world leaders arrive in the country for the G20 summit from 22 to 23 November 2025 in Johannesburg. The G20 Women’s Shutdown is a direct message to the world that the government cannot speak of progress while a woman is murdered every 2.5 hours in South Africa.
The meeting will be the first G20 summit held in South Africa and on the African continent, thus making the campaign even more significant for all women including those in the arts sector.
Poet and healer, vangile gantso, says the G20 Women’s National Shutdown campaign is essential due to the lack of safety of women in South Africa. “We need to acknowledge the fact that we have reached a state of national disaster. This is an emergency. We are not safe,” says gantso.
The recently appointed editor of the poetry journal, New Coin said further: “Our lives are always in danger at home, on the streets, anywhere and everywhere. We are in a constant state of perpetual trauma and fear. We cannot exhale and that is not living.”
Multidisciplinary artist Thembeka Heidi Sincuba says GBVF has long been a disaster hence this moment calls for a reckoning with how we do activism.
Sincuba cites a recent article she wrote called A Right to Pride. In it Sincuba explores the growing fatigue in many activists’ spaces including the LGBTQI+ community, despite the incredible energy and commitment put in.
“There is burnout, fracturing, judgment, and even toxicity. We often fight the right battles, but in ways that replicate harm. So, the opportunity to do activist work in ways that feel safe is welcome. This shutdown feels like an invitation to reimagine solidarity, not just in public-facing resistance, but in how we hold ourselves and each other as communities of care,” says Sincuba.
When the South African government designates an event as a disaster, it unlocks emergency funding, speeds up the rollout of critical resources, and supports widespread public awareness efforts.
Yet the petition submitted in April 2025 calling for GBVF to be declared a National Disaster was ignored by both the Presidency and the Department of Women. With genuine political will, surely the government could address this crisis with the same urgency it applied to the COVID-19 response and recent flood interventions.
This lack of urgency from the government, gantso says, is due to a general lack of care among men in positions of power.
“Our President doesn’t care. We live in a country where men can get away with raping women and continue their lives as if it’s business as usual. A man can beat up his partner and can continue to join the ministry, become a high-ranking politician or an executive with no repercussions,” gantso says fretfully.
“So, to call for change in the carrying out of legislation, for example, is to admit that these men have to suffer the consequences of their actions because the men who are making the laws are also the ones who are killing, raping, and violating us,” gantso argues.
Multidisciplinary artist: Thembeka Heidi Sincuba says this moment calls for a reckoning with how we do activism. Photo: Supplied
Sincuba agrees with gantso’s view on the government needing more proactive laws but stresses that society must significantly intensify its collective efforts.
“While the government must be held accountable, we also have to hold ourselves accountable. The government responds to issues that South Africans will not let them ignore. Whatever egregious injustices are happening will continue until people collectively put their foot down,” says Sincuba.
The Kwa-Zulu Natal-born artist also alludes to the genocide of Palestinians by Israel, arguing that it was South Africans who collectively ensured that our government took action at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“So, when it comes to GBVF, ask yourself why there is no urgency. The truth is, it is because of us. Because society at large has not yet made it impossible for the government to ignore,” adds Sincuba.
I asked both artists what suggestions they would share if given a moment with the President or the G20 leaders.
Sincuba admits there is no simple fix and that a holistic transformation that includes the arts and all sectors of society is needed.
“It means creating opportunities for survivors and marginalised communities to speak for themselves; training police to respond effectively and sensitively to incidents; and ensuring young girls are empowered with education, self-esteem programs, and knowledge of what safety looks like,” Sincuba suggests.
Sincuba also suggests moving away from enforcing a heteronormative nuclear family model, which can often be a site of abuse. “We need to reconnect with a “it takes a village” mentality, where accountability is shared and children are not left at the mercy of one or two people who are themselves dealing with trauma.”
As part of the immediate practical solutions, gantso affirms that stricter laws for violent acts and abusers are needed along with advocating for higher conviction rates so that women can feel safe reporting incidents.
“I want to think about this question very carefully, but I am also exhausted. I feel like our leaders already know what we want. We just want to feel safe. We want laws that protect us. We want perpetrators to face the consequences of their actions. We want to feel safe in our bodies, in our skins, in our countries, in our homes.
What would a moment do if we don’t have the political will and the political desire to keep vulnerable or endangered members of society safe? I mean it’s exhausting. Why should we have to march? Why should we have to shut down the country?” gantso says dejectedly.
What makes this campaign different from #MeToo, #MenAreTrash and #16daysofactivism campaigns, is its potential to hit hard at the core of the economy. It is an unyielding wake up call to the slumbering country and global leaders.
Imagine, for instance, if all female and queer CEOs, ministers, presidents, cleaners, stay-at-home mothers, and all the gogos selling on sidewalks, didn’t go to work for a week; how would our economy be affected? Then again imagine if all women were paid suitably, shown healthy love in their homes balanced with modern legal frameworks. Better yet imagine progressive men in power who actually listen and act promptly on this burning issue, surely the world could be a better place. But sadly, the vision is held hostage by a persistent patriarchy and misogyny.
G20 National Shutdown’s call aligns with feminist writer and activist Caroline Criado Perez’s view on the invisibility of women’ s needs in a world biased towards men.
In her book Invisible Women, Perez argues male bias has made women forgettable, dispensable and invisible from history, culture, data, product design, laws and in basically everyday life.
No matter the outcome, the G20 National Shutdown certainly demonstrates the power of collective effort to put an even bigger spotlight on the visible truth many choose to ignore. It’s an amplified call for accountability, empathy and a proactive legal system to curb abuse of women and the LGBTQI+ community.