Violence against women has dominated international human rights discussions consistently in the last few decades. In Africa, the realisation of women’s vulnerability to violence has led to several governments and non-governmental organisations championing campaigns against gender-based violence (GBV) in all its forms. But one relatively neglected area within the overall field of violence against women and girls is femicide (also referred to as feminicide). Southern Africa has gradually become the epicentre of this abhorrent practice. South Africa has for years been ranked on the list of the top five countries with the highest globally recorded rate of femicide.[1] Women in South Africa are disproportionately affected by homicidal violence perpetrated by intimate partners with about 11 women being killed on a daily basis.[2] Botswana, Uganda and Zimbabwe have also recorded a number of gender related killings against women and girls.[3] In the last five years, femicide has wreaked havoc in Eswatini,[4] Lesotho,[5] Mozambique,[6] Namibia[7] and Zimbabwe.[8] The South African Development Community (SADC) came up with the SADC Model Law on GBV as a governance tool to assist the enactment, reformation or revision of national GBV laws, barely scratching the surface on femicide.[9] Just highlighting femicide and not providing insight or expansion in terms of legislation exposes that SADC’s efforts to curb this form of violence in Southern Africa is deeply inadequate.

Considering how pivotal it is to approach this gender-motivated deliberate killing of women, this article seeks to provide an understanding of this misunderstood, yet common phenomenon in Southern Africa while identifying ways to confront it. 

Understanding Femicide in Southern Africa.

Femicide is widely regarded as the intentional killing of women because of their gender. In South Africa the phenomenon is defined as:

The killing of a female, or perceived female person on the basis of gender identity, whether committed within the domestic relationship, interpersonal relationship or by any other person, or whether perpetrated or tolerated by the State or its agents, and private sources.[10]

Deeply rooted in gender stereotypes and societal power imbalance which promotes an unequal status between men and women, the term femicide is coined because the gender-neutral term of homicide leaves unnoticed the realities of inequality, oppression and systematic violence against women.[11]

Femicide is rampant in Southern Africa because of the prevalence of impunity, discrimination, the presence of a culture of violence, poverty and several other factors. The weak justice system, as well as the entrenched mentality of male dominance, have bolstered this series of violence against women[12] inevitably denigrating their womanhood.

There are numerous manifestations of femicide with intimate femicide being the most common. Intimate femicide suggests a degree of familiarity between the victim and her perpetrators who could either be current or former partners and/or family members. This is the most common form of femicide in Southern Africa. The Oscar Pistorius trial in 2014 is a landmark case on intimate femicide in Southern Africa, but more recent cases like the 27-year-old Durban Metro Police officer who allegedly fatally stabbed his girlfriend,[13] a man shooting and killing his estranged girlfriend in Bulawayo,[14] amongst others, denote that intimate femicide is far from over. Intimate femicide can also occur beginning from or through digital spaces and this is now termed as technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV).[15] This exposes the dark side of online platforms which are used by perpetrators (sometimes intimate partners) to fuel violence against women and ultimately femicide. Femicide can also take the form of non-intimate femicide where the perpetrator has no intimate relationship with the victim. Often motivated by misogyny, serial killings of women also constitute a form of non-intimate femicide. An honour crime is another form which femicide takes. Here, women are killed for having brought shame to their family and their death is the sole way to bring back the family’s honour or reputation. When femicide occurs in the name of honour, it is usually as a result of the woman/girl’s sexual orientation, choice of partner, “inappropriate” dressing, engaging in premarital sex, having an education and a myriad of other factors.[16] The targeted killing of women in armed conflicts and female infanticide all constitute forms of femicide.[17]

Some specific groups of women and girls get targeted and are at risk of femicide. They include but are not limited to disabled women, domestic workers,[18] minority or ethnic groups, refugees,[19] women in the public eye,[20] including those in politics, female human rights defenders[21] and journalists.[22]

The Effectiveness of Legal Frameworks on Femicide and its Upsurge in Southern Africa.

It would be a gross exaggeration to state that no Southern African country has a legal framework on femicide. Southern Africa has various laws and policies to curb femicide which include, South Africa's National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), Botswana's Gender-Based Violence Act of 2008 and Lesotho's Counter Domestic Violence Act of 2022, but needless to say that these laws are failing.

In a bid to better the state of GBV in Southern Africa, SADC came up with the Protocol on Gender and Development in 2008 and then with the Model Law on GBV in 2021. The latter only highlights femicide as a form of GBV without extensively expanding it in terms of legislation or providing parameters for prosecution institutions that deal with femicide, neither does it provide insight on how Southern African countries can adapt and adopt the Model Law.

Even when these laws are enacted, their weak implementation is problematic. It is not uncommon for a perpetrator to be arrested for violating a woman, only to be released shortly afterwards and commit the same crime again, repeating the whole toxic cycle. With many societies in Africa being predominantly patriarchal and chauvinistic, creating inequalities and solidifying the subjugation of women, it is not an anomaly for this factor to be at the centre of femicide. This is the reason why particularly in intimate partner femicide, young women are dying at the hands of their estranged lovers as the perpetrators fail to realise or accept that love is no longer present and forcefully assert their dominance through harassment and ultimately murder. With little to no deterrence, a pervasive culture of impunity and fear, it becomes difficult for harassed victims to even report cases, making the difficult choice of enduring abuse, till when they can no more.

Archaic cultural practices and norms, poverty and illiteracy are also salient factors that objectify women making it difficult for them to escape from victimhood.

Recommendations to Address Femicide in Southern Africa.

One way to address this extreme, pervasive form of violence against women, is through primary prevention initiatives that are focused on transforming harmful social norms and engaging communities to create zero tolerance for GBV. It is imperative that the girl child be educated, and early and/or forced marriages discouraged.

The need for early intervention and risk assessment, access to survivor-centred support and protection systems, as well as gender-responsive justice services are necessary to ending femicide.

Strengthened justice systems prescribing maximum penalties and punishments for perpetrators of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) would serve as deterrents to future occurrences.

National and regional legal frameworks like SADC ought to be strengthened to better define femicide, its forms and parameters for prosecution authorities dealing with femicide.

In-depth femicide review committees are also important to help improve institutional responses and prevent future gender related killings.[23]

Human rights organisations, specifically women’s rights organisations, play a fundamental role in preventing violence against women, and financial support should be provided to strengthen their activities.

As the world constantly gives room for innovation, it is important to use innovative tools as a means to combat GBV in all its forms. Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) innovations is an important way to combat GBV specifically femicide. Recently created, the AymurAI seeks to identify data that can be used to recognise patterns that could lead to femicide.[24] Also, following the example of Eagle Eye initiative launched in the Dominican Republic, countries in the Southern African region could use artificial intelligence to analyse data and generate predictive scenarios to reduce the rate of femicide.[25]

Conclusion

Femicide is a universal problem and is likely much higher than the statistics provide as many victims go uncounted for. In Southern Africa, femicide is a growing concern. In his prominent speech of 8th March 1987, Burkina Faso’s revolutionary President Thomas Sankara stressed that “We should not talk of women’s emancipation as an act of charity or out of a surge of human compassion. It is a basic necessity for the revolution to triumph”. Drawing inspiration from Sankara’s speech, the participation of women in Southern Africa’s discourses pertaining to their rights, politics, social, economic or cultural issues should never be performed as an act of charity, but as a matter of necessity. It is imperative that through meaningful action and consistency, women’s rights in Southern Africa are effectively protected and femicide is eradicated in all its forms, not as an act of charity, but as an outright responsibility of states to their citizens.

[1] Currently, El Salvador.

[2] The Outlier, Women murders in SA: Filling in the details (2024), accessed at: https://www.theoutlier.co.za/crime/2024-02-26/86877/crime-statistics-2024 on 30 June, 2024.

[3] UN WOMEN: UN TRUST TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, AFRICA, accessed at: https://untf.unwomen.org/en/grant-giving/current-grants/africa#_ftn1 on 11 February, 2025.

[4] Mensah Adinkrah (2024). Intimate Partner Femicides in Eswatini: Victims, Assailants, Offense Characteristics, and Sociocultural Contexts. Journal of Crime and Criminal Behavior, 4: 2, pp. 157-180. https://doi.org/10.47509/JCCB.2024.v04i02.01. See also, Times of Swaziland, Too much femicide in Eswatini (2024)

[5] Mungoshi, R. (2021). Activists call for action as femicide wreaks havoc in Lesotho and beyond. Public

Eye.

[6] UNICEF, The story of Berta de Nazareth, accessed at: https://www.unicef.org/mozambique/en/stories/story-berta-de-nazareth on 30 June, 2024.

[7] END GBV AFRICA, Namibia, (2020) accessed at: https://endgbv.africa/mapping/namibia/#:~:text=The%20Organization%20for%20World%20Peace,period%20ending%20in%20June%202020. On 30 June, 2024.

[8] Chirambwi K., Understanding and addressing femicide in peacetime Zimbabwe (2022), A Journal of Social Justice, Vol 34, Issue 2, accessed at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10402659.2022.2055894 on 30 June, 2024.

[9] Ntaba J., The SADC Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Model Law Consultative Meeting for Prosecutors from SADC Member States, Keynote address, (2021) accessed at: https://www.sadcpf.org/index.php/en/programmes/gender-equality-women-advancement-youth-development/417-the-sadc-gender-based-violence-gbv-model-law-consultative-meeting-for-prosecutors-from-sadc-member-states-the-sadc-gender-based-violence-gbv-model-law-consultative-meeting-for-prosecutors-from-sadc-member-states#:~:text=The%20model%20law%20has%20included,are%20committed%20by%20intimate%20partners. On 30 June 2024.

[10] DOJCD, Anti-Femicide, accessed at: https://www.justice.gov.za/vg/femicide/index.html on 02 July 2024.

[11] EIGE, Femicide, accessed at: https://eige.europa.eu/gender-based-violence/femicide?language_content_entity=en#:~:text=Femicide%20is%20broadly%20defined%20as,of%20%E2%80%9Chonour%E2%80%9D%3B%20etc. on 30 June 2024.

[12] Fagbadego O., A discourse on the plight of South African women in the face of abuse and neglect, Volume 25 (2021).

[13] Patel F., “Durban Metro Cop Shares Last Moments of Girlfriend After Stubbing”, (2024) The Citizen, accessed at: https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/crime/durban-metro-cop-last-moments-girlfriend-stabbing on 30 June 2024.

[14] Phiri M., Killings raise gender violence concerns in Zimbabwe, accessed at: https://mg.co.za/africa/2022-11-14-killings-raise-gender-violence-concerns-in-zimbabwe/ on 30 June 2024.

[15] Citizen Digital, Femicide Epidemic: The Dark Side Of Online Platforms Fueling Violence Against Women (2024), accessed at: https://www.citizen.digital/opinion-blogs/femicide-epidemic-the-dark-side-of-online-platforms-fueling-violence-against-women-n336218 on 1 July 2024.

[16] Etherington N, Learning Network Brief 29, Forms of Femicide, accessed at https://www.gbvlearningnetwork.ca/our-work/briefs/brief-29.html on 12 February 2025.

[17] Anderson K, GBV AoR HELP DESK: Gender Based Violence in Emergencies, Research Query: Learning Brief on Femicide in Emergencies, accessed at: https://gbvaor.net/sites/default/files/2022-10/Femicide%20in%20Emergencies%20Final.pdf on 12 February 2025.

[18] IPPF: Femicide in Africa: Confronting a Crisis of Gender-Based Violence, accessed at: https://africa.ippf.org/blogs/femicide-africa-confronting-crisis-gender-based-violence on 12 February 2025.

[19] Tadesse G, Andualem F, Rtbey G, et al. Gender-based violence and its determinants among refugees and internally displaced women in Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health 24, 2851 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20329-8

[20] Phungula N, Political Violence Directed to Female Politicians in SADC, (2024), accessed at: https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.31920/2634-3665/2024/v13n1a4 on 12 February 2025.

[21] Information Series on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Women Human Rights Defenders,(2020), accessed at: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/SexualHealth/INFO_WHRD_WEB.pdf on 12 February 2025.

[22] Posetti J, Reid J, ‘Sexualised, Silenced and Labelled Satan’ — Horrific Levels of Online Violence Targeting Women Journalists, (2024) accessed at: https://www.icfj.org/news/sexualised-silenced-and-labelled-satan-horrific-levels-online-violence-targeting-women on 12 February 2025.

[23] UNWOMEN, Five essential facts to know about femicide (2023), accessed at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/feature-story/2022/11/five-essential-facts-to-know-about-femicide on 1 July 2024.

[24] IDRC, Feminist AI Research Network: Combatting gender-based violence with artificial intelligence innovations (2024), accessed at: https://idrc-crdi.ca/en/research-in-action/feminist-ai-research-network-combatting-gender-based-violence-artificial 01 July, 2024.

[25] ActuIA, Eagle Eye, a machine learning model to fight against femicide,(2021), accessed at: https://www.actuia.com/english/eagle-eye-a-machine-learning-model-to-fight-against-feminicide/ on 01 July, 2024.