Thousands took to the streets of Matatiele in the Eastern Cape and Johannesburg's city center on April 8.
In October 2024, a mother in Matatiele, a town in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, sent her then 7-year-old daughter to school, as she did every day. Over the next few days, the mother noticed that her daughter, who has been given the pseudonym “Cwecwe” to protect her identity, was not her usual self. Details of what happened to her, how it happened, how the school and authorities responded, have sparked national outrage. Protests have broken out, and the hashtag #JusticeforCwecwe has spread across the country.
Cwecwe was reportedly raped at Bergview College in Matatiele while waiting for her school bus to take her home. The incident occurred in October last year, but public anger intensified after it was revealed that the school principal waited a month before reporting it to the police and allegedly refused to provide DNA samples that would rule him out as a suspect in the investigation. This inaction forced Cwecwe's mother to speak out.
The public response has been overwhelming. Social media users have shared petitions with the hashtag #JusticeforCwecwe, with one petition garnering over a million signatures. Another petition created by the non-profit organization, Women for Change, has over 140,000 signatures.
Tomorrow, April 11, 2025, Women for Change, in coalition with other groups, including activists, businesses, and civil society organizations, will gather at the Union Buildings in Pretoria to present this petition, demanding that the South African government declare gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) a national disaster.
"The petition handover and demonstration event will highlight the government's continued failure to respond with urgency, transparency, and accountability despite the existence of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP GBVF) 2020 - 2030 policy," a statement by the NPO reads.
The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education officially responded to the issue, saying, "This tragic incident has not only shaken the community but has also raised critical questions regarding the safety and welfare of our children in educational institutions."
Hildegard (surname withheld to protect her identity), a 16-year-old student from Johannesburg, says she's disappointed children aren't safe in schools where they ought to be "safe and protected." Instead, "We get this news that a child is violently raped. It's horrifying because I want children in the future," she tells OkayAfrica. "I want a daughter. How am I supposed to protect my children if our principals and our own schools can't do it for us?"
Community member Mulweli Masikhwa explains why this case resonated so strongly: "The power of social media in this day and age does wonders. The fact that she (Cwecwe's mom) mentioned this incident could have happened at a school, how protocols have been disregarded in the process of everything, and how she didn't get assistance made people so agitated."
Women for Change also highlighted that the National Registry for Sex Offenders has not been shared with the public as Minister of Justice Mmamoloko Kubayi promised in February. "To date, no progress has been made on the NRSO publication announcement, and efforts to hold stakeholders accountable remain challenging. Our petition demands accountability, urgent policy implementation, accessible funding measures for government and civil society programs focusing on this thematic area, and the formal declaration of GBVF as a national disaster."
The crisis continues to spread. Since #JusticeforCwecwe gained public attention, two more allegations of child rape have emerged in the same province. "Two other pupils from Vuka Rise private school have also been raped. And shoddy police investigations have made the problem worse for the victims and their families," eNCA reports.
Kagiso Magabe, a lawyer, describes the movement as reflecting a nation in crisis, adding that men must become as outraged as women for real change to occur. "What I hope more than anything is to see more male outrage. I hope men are talking about this—not just in public forums, but in private conversations. It's not enough to be outraged. We need to interrogate the gaps in our systems, culture, and responses—and then act," she tells OkayAfrica.
Zakithi Buthelezi, from a prominent family of South African royalty, agrees. "I believe that at the core of addressing gender-based violence (GBV) is the need to connect the issues that young boys and men face socio-economically. It is essential to create an environment where they can openly discuss the challenges affecting them without fear of judgment. This approach seems to be one of the most effective ways to truly tackle this issue," he tells OkayAfrica.
- #ShutItDown: Ongoing Namibian Protests Call for End to Gender-Based Violence ›
- Tunisian Women March Against Gender-Based Violence Under the #EnaZeda Movement ›
- Nigeria Has a Femicide Problem It Refuses to Acknowledge ›
- In Honor of Slain Olympian, Family and Friends Open Center for Gender-Based Violence Survivors in Kenya ›
- Kenyan Women Marching for #EndFemicide Met With Police Violence ›
- The Unchecked Violence Against Women Across East Africa ›
