Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, has emphasised that South Africa must urgently transform its approach to fighting Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), calling on the country to “rewrite the script” of how violence is understood, prevented and portrayed.
Speaking at the launch of the 2025 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign in Midrand on Tuesday, Letsike said the country could no longer rely on symbolic outrage while women and children continue to live in survival mode.
“We gather this morning not as spectators to a crisis, but as a nation in mourning, in anger, and in determination. We refuse to normalise this storm. We refuse to raise another generation on inherited trauma,” the Minister said.
She opened her address with a stark reminder of the scale of the emergency confronting the country.
Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn
“The data forces us to confront a painful truth. A woman is killed by an intimate partner or family member every three hours,” Letsike said.
Letsike also highlighted the chronic under-reporting of rape, noting that during the 10 minutes of her speech, only one rape survivor would report the crime, even though between 14 and 18 women are likely to be sexually assaulted in that same period.
Teenage pregnancy figures, more than 102 000 births to girls, aged 10 to 19 in 2023, further revealed the hidden and often unreported violence affecting young girls.
“What is most disheartening is that the statistics do not reflect the totality of other abuses that are more nuanced such as psychological and emotional abuse, economic violence, hate crimes against LGBTI persons, cultural and traditional violence, controlling behaviours and domestic servitude, among others. This reality of gendered violence is not sustainable – something has to give,” she said.
Arts, media and storytelling placed at the centre of prevention
Under this year’s theme, ‘Rewriting the Script: Harnessing Film, Arts and Media to Prevent GBVF’, Letsike said the creative sector must become a frontline of prevention.
“Because we know this: before a man ever raises his hand, violence is written into the script of his childhood. It is rehearsed through the jokes he hears, normalised through the music he consumes, justified through the films he watches, and reinforced by the silences of other men.
“Your stories can disrupt patriarchy. Your art can expose the truth. Your platforms can unlearn violence. And your imagination can build the South Africa that our daughters deserve,” the Minister said.
She cited an encounter at the Boys’ Parliament in the Western Cape where a teenage boy said he had never seen male characters apologise on television. This, she said, was a powerful reminder of how representation shapes behaviour.
“In that moment, I understood deeply the power of representation. When boys grow up consuming violent male heroes, they learn to become violent men. When girls grow up seeing women silenced, abused or erased from screens, they learn to downplay their own worth. This is why today is not just a launch, it is a turning point,” she said.
Institutions across the creative sector including the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), SABC, Film and Publications Board and Cultural and Creative Industries Federation of South Africa (CCIFSA) were urged to lead the shift toward responsible storytelling and inclusive narratives.
Government commitments and NSP review
The Deputy Minister said the launch also coincided with the release of the five-year review of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF, which identifies areas that need urgent strengthening.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Prevention, she stressed, must be a policy obligation implemented through effective policing, teaching consent in schools, strengthening community safety structures and ensuring perpetrators face consequences.
“This campaign is not about women raising their voices louder, it is about men finally lowering their fists,” Letsike said.
Collective action and global ties
The 2025 programme integrates outcomes of the G20 High-Level Dialogue, which promotes positive masculinity, challenges harmful norms and elevates the role of men and boys in ending violence.
Hosted by Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, the launch brings together filmmakers, media professionals, civil society, academia and international partners to co-create solutions.
Concluding her remarks, Letsike said the country must move beyond outrage and into sustained action.
“We are done with symbolism and performative outrage. Let us make these 16 days a spark and the remaining 349 days the work,” she said.
