President Ramaphosa rebukes men over violence against women

President Cyril Ramaphosa has challenged men to confront their peers over the abuse of women, saying the responsibility for ending gender-based violence cannot continue to rest largely on the shoulders of its victims.

Addressing the nation on Tuesday night, against the backdrop of mounting anger over the killings of women across the country, Ramaphosa said men and boys needed to become active participants in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide.

He mentioned how women have been forced to adjust their daily lives to protect themselves from potential attacks. Ramaphosa said this imbalance had to end, calling on men to speak out when they witnessed abusive behaviour among their friends, colleagues and relatives.

“Challenge the friend who humiliates his partner. Challenge the colleague who harasses women. Challenge the relative who abuses his wife or girlfriend,” he said.

READ: Ramaphosa announces list of interventions targeting GBV

The president’s address came as the country grappled with a series of killings, including the discovery of 11 women’s bodies in Ekurhuleni since July.

Ramaphosa said the continuing violence demanded a fundamental shift in how society approached the problem, arguing that women could not be expected to carry the burden of preventing the violence directed at them.

He said women had been left to “organise protests, support survivors and warn one another about dangerous people and places, while changing their movements to reduce the risk of becoming victims themselves”.

“We have placed the burden of male violence on women. That must change,” he said.

Ramaphosa warned against a society in which women’s freedom was restricted by the threat of violence, saying their ability to move around safely should not depend on constant vigilance or avoiding certain places. The president further emphasised the importance of constitutional freedoms.

“The freedom promised by our Constitution cannot be a freedom enjoyed fully by men and cautiously by women,” he said.

He also pointed to the influence of prominent sports figures, including Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and Proteas captain Temba Bavuma, who have spoken publicly about the need for men to confront violence against women.

He was equally emphatic that responsibility for abuse and sexual violence lay with perpetrators, not their victims.

The president said neither a woman’s clothing nor an argument or the breakdown of a relationship could justify violence. He also rejected the idea that a man had any entitlement to control a woman or retaliate against her for rejecting him.

“No man has the right to take the life of a woman because she chooses to leave him,” he said.

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Ramaphosa also called for broader community involvement in confronting the social attitudes that enable gender-based violence. He has directed the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie to strengthen the Moral Regeneration Movement’s contribution to changing harmful social norms and practices.

With the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence approaching, Ramaphosa called for the period to be used to build sustained public action against violence rather than allow the issue to fade once the campaign ended.

His remarks carried an acknowledgement of the country’s repeated failure to bring the crisis under control. He recalled addressing South Africans about gender-based violence seven years ago and said he did not want the same conversation to be necessary seven years from now.

The president said the country needed to move beyond expressions of grief and condemnation towards practical action that would protect women and girls.