South Africa: Civil society demands judicial reform in the face of a wave of femicides

A series of murders targeting women east of Johannesburg has sparked intense outrage in South Africa. According to RFI, President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged on September 29, 2026, the state's failures in the fight against gender-based violence. The head of state has ordered an audit of pending cases and the development of an action plan within three months to accelerate the judicial processing of cases.

While the South African prosecution service reports high conviction rates when cases reach the trial stage, many complaints are abandoned beforehand. Legal expert Brenda Madumise-Pajibo, director of Wise4Afrika, points to structural failures within the police. She denounces the manual management of files that facilitates their disappearance, acts of corruption, and persistent delays in DNA sample analysis, which severely hinder the discovery of the truth.

Support for victims is also hampered by discouraging procedural slowness. Naledi Kuali, deputy director of the NGO Lawyers against Abuse, emphasizes that proceedings can drag on for several years, citing cases that have lasted up to nine years. These delays, caused by frequent changes of magistrates or prosecutors, exhaust the complainants. On average, victims manage to maintain their commitment to the judicial process for only two to three years.

The fear of stigmatization constitutes an additional barrier to accessing justice. Many women give up on filing complaints from the very first stages due to fear of social judgment or the reception they receive from law enforcement. This situation is pushing associations to demand a structural transformation of the system to protect women's rights and end impunity, beyond the corrective measures announced by the government.

Our perspective

The fight against femicide in South Africa is a matter of human dignity and citizen sovereignty. The protection of women is the foundation of a just society. Demanding effective justice means affirming that the lives of African women are an absolute priority. Continental solidarity requires supporting these voices that are calling for an end to violence and unconditional respect for fundamental rights.