NUMSA Joins Nationwide Shutdown Over Rising Gender-Based Violence
NUMSA members gather in Bloemfontein to demand urgent action on rising GBV cases.
image: internet
by Kelebogile Matlou
South Africa’s largest metalworkers union, NUMSA, will participate in the National Shutdown on Friday, November 21, in Bloemfontein, to protest the country’s escalating incidence of gender-based violence, femicide, and child attacks. The union will lead a march to demand immediate government action, backed by members from the Free State and Northern Cape, as well as many SAFTU affiliates.
The shutdown will be carried out through nationwide rallies to compel authorities to recognize gender-based violence as a national priority.
The union’s National Gender Structure has stated that it will lead the Bloemfontein demonstration, which is expected to include TASWU, NUPSAW, and other SAFTU-aligned groups.
According to AfricaCheck’s crime statistics analysis, almost 5,700 people were murdered between January and March of this year, including 837 women. This means that nine women are murdered every day, confirming NUMSA officials’ claims of a national emergency.
Recent cases have sparked widespread outrage. In September, seven boys from a Soweto primary school were allegedly drugged and raped at gunpoint. Earlier this month, a seven-year-old girl from Atlantis was allegedly raped on school grounds. Both incidents revived concerns about children’s safety and the state’s ability to safeguard them.
Puleng Phaka, NUMSA’s 2nd Deputy President, said that the closure is intended to put pressure on the government to act more quickly and with greater commitment. She stated that communities are living in dread and cannot continue in such conditions.
Women for Change, a civil society organization, was the first to call for demonstrations, calling South Africans to demand that gender-based violence be recognized as a key national priority.
The Bloemfontein march is set to commence at 11:00 a.m. on November 21, and NUMSA has invited its members all over the country to take part in local demonstrations wherever possible.
