WATCH | Black and purple revolt: Women shut down Joburg to force GBVF action

Cape Town – Hundreds of demonstrators clad in black, with touches of purple, gathered at Johannesburg’s Constitution Hill on 21 November to call for tangible solutions to South Africa’s escalating crisis of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

Participants observed a moment of silence, lying down for 15 minutes as a symbolic act — each minute representing one of the roughly 15 women who are killed daily in South Africa.

Speaking ahead of the shutdown, Women for Change campaign leader Merlize Jogiat said, “Until South Africa stops burying a woman every 2.5 hours, the G20 cannot speak of growth and progress.”

She and other activists are demanding that GBVF be declared a national disaster, triggering urgent national mobilisation.

A Picture is worth a Thousand words 💔#WomenShutdown #StopGBV #EndGBV pic.twitter.com/pOg6cn1B9p

— IG:Joy-Zelda (@joy_zelda) November 21, 2025

The Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture also endorsed the call, with Director Marguerite Holthauzen urging people to withdraw their labour, both paid and unpaid, and abstain from spending money for a day to highlight the economic power of women.

Proud to stand in support of the fight against GBVF 💜

Government has only now ‘classified’ GBVF as a disaster but this is NOT a formal declaration! It is a symbolic gesture that will do little to trigger the urgent measures needed to protect women in South Africa. #StopGBV pic.twitter.com/ZYXsps4AEG

— Dereleen James MP (@DereleenJ) November 21, 2025

The shutdown aligns with the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg (22–23 November), a deliberate decision by organisers. The timing is meant to force global leaders to confront the national violence crisis: “We demand that gender-based violence and femicide be declared a national disaster. Not tomorrow. Not at another summit. Now!”

As world leaders arrive for the G20, the women of South Africa welcomes them with a truth our government can no longer bury.

Despite one million signatures demanding that Gender-Based Violence and Femicide be declared a National Disaster, nothing has been done.

So we created… pic.twitter.com/UmxnnPalet

— Women For Change (@womenforchange5) November 20, 2025

By pulling back from normal economic and social activity — lying down in public, wearing black, going offline, and painting social media purple — protesters hoped to make their absence felt loudly and visibly.

Organisers further emphasised that while the country prepares to host world leaders, it remains deeply unsafe for many of its own citizens — particularly women. As stated on their website: “Without women, South Africa stops.”