Women For Change Slams GBVF Response After 5 Bodies Found in Kempton Park
- Five women's bodies were discovered across Kempton Park and Olifantsfontein within a single month, with missing runner Elizabeth Moselakgomo among the victims
- Women For Change raised the alarm over policing failures, citing cases where victims were turned away at police stations
- Operations manager Merlize Jogiat called out millions spent on GBVF conferences that produced no tangible change for women on the ground
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Source: Getty Images
GAUTENG — The discovery of five women's bodies across Kempton Park and Olifantsfontein within a month has renewed fierce criticism of South Africa's law enforcement response to gender-based violence, following the murder of missing runner Elizabeth Moselakgomo, who left home for a routine jog last week and never returned.
According to SABC News, a rapid sequence of violent deaths has drawn sharp condemnation from advocacy group Women For Change, which warned that the classification of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) as a national disaster has not translated into meaningful protection for women at a community level.
Organisation slams response to GBV
Women For Change pointed to a recurring pattern in which women seeking help at police stations are turned away and told to return home to their perpetrators, describing this as evidence of a deep disconnect between policy commitments and everyday practice.
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Merlize Jogiat from Women For Change directed her criticism squarely at the state's strategy, arguing that resources are being misallocated to high-level engagements rather than ground-level enforcement.
"Millions were being spent on conferences to discuss GBVF, but women were not feeling any difference," Jogiat said.
She added that the conversations taking place at those forums did not translate into the daily lived experiences of women.
Jogiat stressed that structural failures at police stations remained unresolved. She added that continuous talking, speeches, and spending on conferences failed to address the core problem.
Jogiat calls for actionable change
Jogiat called on the government to abandon the conference to favour concrete implementation. She said it was time to create actionable change. The deaths in Kempton Park and Olifantsfontein have intensified public pressure on the South African Police Service and the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities to demonstrate that the national disaster declaration carries practical consequences for perpetrators and real protection for women.
View a statement from Women For Change on Facebook:
Calls for women's protection intensify after 5 bodies found
In a related article, Briefly News reported on the discovery of five women’s bodies in the Kempton Park and Olifantsfontein areas. Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga to call for urgent, coordinated action to improve women’s safety in public spaces.
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Source: Briefly News
