JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — The South African Council of Churches (SACC) is demanding urgent action to protect women and eradicate gender-based violence and femicide, following an alarming surge in fatalities across Gauteng. This critical call to action comes in the wake of eight women’s bodies being discovered in the East Rand region over a span of just two months.
The recent deaths of women in Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein, and Springs have sparked widespread fear and public outrage. In response, the Council is pressing authorities for faster criminal investigations, swift prosecutions, and the immediate, full-scale implementation of the national Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) disaster declaration.
Leading the charge for accountability, Rev Mzwandile Molo, General Secretary of the SACC, emphasized the severe scale of the crisis. He noted that a country experiencing more than 5,500 murdered women annually—averaging 15 women killed every single day—must confront its systemic failures.
Rev Molo stated that the nation should “hang its collective head in shame and confess before God and nation failure to protect the vulnerable amongst itself.”
Moving beyond condemnation, the SACC is outlining a clear path forward. Guided by a profound moral obligation, the Council insists on recommitting all available resources to reverse this deadly trend. This comprehensive approach includes leveraging legal and judicial instruments, reinforcing moral teaching, and actively supporting community safety initiatives to fundamentally change the ongoing pattern of wounding and death for women across South Africa.
As communities in the East Rand continue to mourn, the SACC’s declaration serves as a stark reminder that protecting women requires not just rhetorical commitment, but immediate, tangible, and coordinated national action.
