Olorato Mongale, a 30-year-old South African woman, went out with a man she had just met on May 25.
She passed away less than two hours later.
In Lombardy West, a suburb north of Johannesburg, her half-naked body was discovered by the side of the road. It exhibited signs of extensive bruising and trauma. Investigators determined that she had been murdered elsewhere and dumped at the scene.
Her assassination, which was brutal and senseless, caused a wave of outcry on social media. A family representative discovered that Mongale, a master’s student at the University of the Witwatersrand, had previously worked as a journalist after it was revealed by a family representative days later. She left the field seven years ago because of the emotional impact of reporting on femicide and gender-based violence (GBVF).
According to her family, Mongale’s anxiety was escalating as she became more receptive to male violence. She was particularly perplexed by Karabo Mokoena’s murder in 2017 and particularly. Ex-boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe, who killed Moena, burned her body beyond recognition and buried the remains in Lyndhurst, a suburb just a few kilometers away from where Mongale’s body was discovered, before burying the body in open grassland.
Mongale eventually came to be what she had feared most: another name added to the growing list of South African women who have been murdered by men despite her conscious attempts to avoid Mokoena’s fate.
Her daughter tried frantically to stop her attacker, according to her mother, Keabetswe Mongale, at her funeral on June 1.
“I could see that my daughter was fighting when I saw her at the government mortuary.” She fought until her nails broke, she claimed.
Despite years of government promises and improvements, her tragic death serves as a powerful reminder that women and girls in South Africa are still facing an existential threat from gender-based violence.
A bill establishing the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide was signed into law on May 24, 2024, by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The organization is tasked with coordinating and leading the fight against GBVF. Although it appeared to be moving forward, it wasn’t a radical change.
Not the first initiative of this nature. The National Council Against Gender-Based Violence was established in 2012 by then-Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who had a similar role in coordinating national anti-GBV initiatives.
With yet another council in place, GBVF crimes continue more than ten years later.
South Africa’s first national study on GBVF was released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in November 2023. According to the study, “deeply ingrained societal norms and structures that perpetuate male dominance and reinforce gender hierarchies… leading to female subordination, systemic inequalities, and violence against women” are the causes of gender-based violence.
It is undisputed that enshrined patriarchy has a destructive effect. Every three hours, a woman is murdered in South Africa. That’s equivalent to 8 women per day. According to one study, there are approximately 7.8 million women in the nation who have experienced physical or sexual abuse.
Black women are more susceptible to GBVF, an ongoing symptom of apartheid and its structural inequalities, despite the fact that women of all races and backgrounds are affected.
South Africa is not the only country experiencing this crisis. Girls and women are a continent-wide phenomenon for their terror.
The United Nations released its report Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides in November 2024, which revealed that Africa had the highest rate of partner-related femicide in the world that year.
For its astounding stats, Kenya stands out.
More than 7, 100 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were recorded in the nation between September 2023 and December 2024. In just four months, at least 100 women were murdered by male acquaintances, relatives, or intimate partners.
Rebecca Cheptegei, a mother of two and Olympian from Uganda, was one of the victims of the 2024 Paris Games marathon. She was doused in gasoline and set her ablaze in Eldoret, Kenya, on September 5, 2024, after her ex-boyfriend had allegedly abused her and set her alight during a domestic dispute. She later passed away in Eldoret, Kenya, from severe burns. He later succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.
The Kenyan government later acknowledged GBVF as the nation’s most pressing security issue, in a belated but crucial step.
The National Gender and Equality Commission of Kenya noted on May 26 that there is “a complex interplay of cultural, social, economic, and legal factors” contributing to the rise in GBVF crimes. While harmful practices like forced marriage, female genital mutilation (FGM), and dowry-related violence continue to perpetuate inequality and legitimize violence, patriarchal traditions add to the dangers of women’s lives. Their vulnerability only grows worse as a result of economic hardship and financial dependence.
We are witnessing a perilous resurgence of patriarchal norms across the continent.
The COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 added to the crisis’s scope. Numerous behavioural change campaigns have been launched since then, but they have largely failed.
This is not surprising.
Nearly 48 percent of Africans believe domestic violence is a private matter, not a criminal offence, according to Afrobarometer data from November 2023.
Despite their education or economic status, many African men do not prioritize the safety or rights of women and girls.
South African rugby captain Siya Kolisi made the clear statement on International Women’s Day last year: “Men are not doing enough.”
In fact, many people continue to support harmful customs like child marriage and are uninterested in efforts to protect women. A growing body count has resulted from years of meaningless rhetoric.
African men must now accept this crisis as their own and commit to radical change.
They must reject dehumanizing cultural ideals and ideals of manhood. The cultural makeup of African societies is not unchanging, and patriarchy is not a destiny. A new, egalitarian conception of African masculinity needs to be developed, one that emphasizes equality, dignity, and nonviolence.
This cultural shift must begin in families, be sustained through traditional religious gatherings, schools, and community life.
Olarato Mongale must take advantage of it. For Rebecca Cheptegei. for the countless others who lost their lives.
And most importantly, it must happen for the women and girls who know that the men who live close to them may pose the greatest threat to them every day.
