Women’s lives, bodies and dignity cannot continue to be treated as expendable

According to SAPS, the circumstances surrounding the four cases have raised serious concerns: the women were found partially clothed, with visible bruising, and in locations within the same vicinity. Police have established a dedicated multidisciplinary task team to investigate whether the cases are connected, while cautioning that no determination has yet been made that a serial killer is responsible.

If reports of a fifth body are confirmed, this must be treated with the utmost urgency. At the time of this statement, Soul City is urging the public and media to allow SAPS to confirm the circumstances and identity of the latest deceased woman before conclusions are drawn.

But beyond the investigation lies a much bigger national crisis: the continued denial of women’s fundamental right to live, move, work, exercise and exist without fear of violence.

Even in death, women are being denied dignity

There is something profoundly disturbing about women repeatedly being found abandoned, injured, partially naked and exposed in public spaces.

A woman’s body does not lose its dignity because she has died.

She is not a crime statistic.
She is not a warning.
She is not a headline.
She is someone’s daughter, mother, sister, partner, friend and community member.
She is a human being whose dignity must be protected in life and in death.

The way women’s bodies are violated, displayed and discussed after death must therefore concern all of us. We must insist on reporting and public discourse that protect the dignity and humanity of victims and their families.

Women cannot be made responsible for the violence committed against them

SAPS has urged women in the area not to walk or run alone, particularly in isolated areas, and to travel or exercise in groups. These precautions may be necessary while the investigation unfolds.

But women should not have to reorganise their entire lives because men choose to perpetrate violence.

We cannot allow safety advice to become another form of victim-blaming.

The question cannot always be:

“Why was she walking there alone?”

We must also ask:

“Why does a woman have to calculate the risk of being murdered simply because she wants to walk, run, work or go home?”

And:

“What are we doing as a society to stop men who believe they have the right to violate women’s bodies?”

This is not only a policing issue

Soul City calls for an urgent, coordinated response involving SAPS, municipalities, prosecutors, communities, transport authorities, civil society and other relevant institutions.

We need:

* Urgent and thorough investigations into every death, with no case treated as an isolated incident where patterns may exist.
* Accountability for perpetrators, with investigations pursued until the truth is established and those responsible face justice.
* Safe public spaces, including adequate lighting, transport safety, surveillance where appropriate and responsive local policing.
* Stronger prevention of violence against women, including sustained work with men and boys on power, entitlement, consent and healthy masculinity.
* Survivor- and family-centred responses that protect privacy, dignity and emotional wellbeing.
* Responsible media and social media reporting that does not sensationalise women’s bodies or circulate graphic images.
* A national commitment to prevention, rather than waiting for another woman to die before systems respond.

We must stop normalising the abnormal

South Africa cannot continue to have conversations about women’s safety only after another body is found.

We cannot normalise women being afraid to run in their neighbourhoods.

We cannot normalise families waiting for a woman to return home and instead receiving news of her death.

And we cannot normalise the idea that women must simply become more careful, more vigilant and more restricted while perpetrators continue to exercise violence with impunity.

Women have a right to freedom. Women have a right to safety. Women have a right to dignity. Women have a right to life.

Soul City extends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the women whose lives have been lost. We call on authorities to communicate transparently with affected communities while protecting the identities and dignity of the victims.

The measure of a society is not only how it protects women while they are alive, but also how it honours their humanity when they are no longer here to speak for themselves.

Enough is enough.
Women are not disposable.
Women are not targets.
Women are human beings.
Their lives, bodies and dignity must matter.

Issued by:
Soul City