Liesl Laurie-Mthombeni Revisits 2020 GBV Post, Says Things Have Only Gotten Worse

• Liesl Laurie-Mthombeni reshared a post she originally wrote in October 2020 about women's safety in South Africa, saying the situation has worsened
• The former Miss South Africa's message was rooted in her own personal experience of being harassed in a parking lot three times in one week
• Liesl's resurfaced words reignited conversation around gender-based violence and the burden placed on women to protect themselves

Liesl Laurie-Mthombeni has brought back a post she first shared in October 2020, saying that the painful reality she described back then has only deepened in the years since. The former Miss South Africa returned to Instagram to reshare the message as South Africa continues to face reports of women being killed and mounting public anger over gender-based violence. She wrote alongside the reshared content:

"This was a post from October 2020 and it's only gotten worse! Another body is discovered. Another name is added to an agonisingly long list and another home is broken.”

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Liesl's personal experience behind the post

The original 2020 message was not written in the abstract. Liesl Laurie revealed that on the day she posted it, a man in a parking lot approached her and made unwanted advances. When she declined, he told her to "fck off." It was the third time in a single week that she had been harassed in a similar setting.

That experience pushed her to question why women are constantly expected to modify how they walk, dress, travel, and behave simply to stay safe.

See post here:

'Stop telling women to shrink themselves'

Liesl's frustration in the post was also directed at the recurring advice given to women each time a violent incident makes headlines. She argued firmly that women should not have to surrender their freedom or live in fear as a substitute for actual safety.

"Women in South Africa should not have to pay for their right to walk, run, live, and breathe freely with their lives. Stop telling women to shrink themselves to survive. Start holding the men who kill accountable. We deserve safety, we deserve justice and above all, we deserve to live."

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The fact that words written years ago still feel entirely current is precisely what makes Liesl's decision to reshare them so striking, and so sobering.

Kamo Bombe called on Jacinta amid GBV crisis

Kamo Bombe wrote a heartfelt open letter to activist Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma on 16 September 2026, urging her to champion the cause of South African women.

The appeal came amid a police investigation into multiple women found dead in similar circumstances across Gauteng since July 2026.

Source: Briefly News