Since the beginning of the week and far from xenophobic attacks, hundreds of demonstrators have been protesting South Africa’s high rate of abuse and violence against women.
The protesters blocked the entrance to the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town as the event got under way on Wednesday. The protest was triggered by the recent murder of 19-year-old University of Cape Town student, Uyinene Mrwetyana.
According to reports by Reuters, News24, BBC, etc, police data shows that a woman is murdered every three hours in South Africa.
The killing of Mrwetyana, who was raped and bludgeoned to death at a post office in an upmarket suburb of Cape Town, followed the murder of champion boxer Leighandre Jegels, 25, who was allegedly shot by an ex-boyfriend who had a restraining order against him.
Uyinene Mrwetyana, Janika Mallo, Leighandre Jegels and Jesse Hess were abused and murdered.
Before that, there was Meghan Cremer, an avid horse rider who was allegedly killed by three men as she left her farm outside of Cape Town.
More than a thousand people were involved in the protest, bearing placards including one that simply said: “Stop Killing Us.” On social media, women called for action and suggested ideas including carrying pepper spray and taking self-defense classes, to imposing a curfew on men.
With the protesters having gathered twice during the day, security teams moved to put up fencing around the conference center’s entrances and shut down all but one access point. This meant rerouting World Economic Forum delegates and discouraging them from gathering at windows to look at the action in the street. (Photo: News24)