The discovery of several women's bodies in the Ekurhuleni area over the past two months has caused significant alarm among city residents. While investigations into the circumstances of these deaths are a priority, it is premature to draw conclusions about a link between these cases.
Nevertheless, it is evident that violence against women remains a widespread issue in South Africa, and the safety situation for women in public spaces requires immediate national attention.
Results from the First National Study on Gender-Based Violence in South Africa, published in 2024, show that 35.5% of women aged 18 and older have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. This corresponds to approximately 7.85 million women living in South Africa. Furthermore, South Africa ranks among countries with some of the highest rates of lethal violence against women globally; the partner homicide rate was 5.5 per 100,000 women in 2020/21, nearly five times the global average.
Although statistics cannot fully reflect the individual and collective consequences of violence, they demonstrate the scale of current problems and provide an important perspective for understanding violence against women and their safety. In light of ongoing investigations in Ekurhuleni and the potential risk to other women, a reactive measure is necessary, leading to recommendations for women to take increased precautions.
Any interested party would act irresponsibly if they advised women to ignore recommendations for greater caution, given the reasonable probability of immediate threat in this area. However, a reactive approach, despite its value in harm reduction and threat assessment, cannot serve as a sustainable method for preventing violence against women.
Preventive behaviors, such as avoiding isolated places, limiting solo trips or travel after dark, maintaining vigilance, sharing locations, altering routes or behavior in response to perceived risk, and using a 'friend system,' are integral to how women interact with public spaces and ensure their safety in the public sphere.
Individually, these strategies are reasonable and eliminate opportunities for the victim. But at a collective level, the question arises: at what point do legal advice and safety mechanisms shift the responsibility for managing violence risk onto the potential victim? Routine activity theory suggests that predatory crimes occur when a vulnerable or suitable target, a motivated offender, and the absence of adequate surveillance converge in time and space. This creates opportunities for crime to be committed.
In the context of violence against women and reactive measures, the concept of a 'suitable target' must be considered. Victims' behavior is often critically analyzed, focusing on what they could have done differently to avoid victimization, which can lead to victim-blaming and reinforce the rhetoric that women are responsible for their own safety. There is a concern that while all people possess free will and can try to mitigate their risk, women are increasingly forced to take on the burden of risk management, restricting normal daily activities and routines.
It is crucial to understand that crime prevention cannot be based on the premise that women must limit and narrow their lives and access to public spaces because violence is expected against them and is otherwise 'unmanageable.' From this perspective, the question might need to shift from 'why were they there?' to 'why is it possible for an offender to act there in the first place?'
Such a shift focuses on adequate surveillance, which goes beyond mere police presence and includes video monitoring, environmental design, safer transportation options, private security, community policing, as well as effective reporting and response mechanisms. The focus shifts from restricting women's movements and placing undue responsibility on them to studying how the environment can be made less conducive to criminal acts.
The physical, emotional, and social consequences of violence affect victims, their relatives and friends, and society as a whole. The mere fear of becoming a victim can influence behavior, and women are already adept at adapting their behavior, lifestyle, and routines in response to perceived risk. Increased threats of violence can further restrict their mobility, independence, and participation in public life.
The emerging danger is that such restrictions may gradually become normalized and accepted as part of women's lives. Consequently, the focus remains on how women can avoid victimization, rather than on adequate surveillance, safe environments, protection, and holding perpetrators accountable. Individual risk management can provide some protection from victimization, but sustainable primary and secondary crime prevention requires greater attention to offenders, opportunities for crime, environmental conditions, and formal and informal surveillance. Essentially, solving the problem of violence against women cannot simply mean making women better at avoiding danger.
The deaths of women in Ekurhuleni demand an urgent response from the criminal justice system that emphasizes practical safety aspects and offers suggestions for mitigating immediate risk. However, they also require us to critically reflect on and consider a long-term response in a country that continues to record some of the highest levels of violence against women. The answer cannot primarily be about what women should do differently, but rather about reducing opportunities for offenses, strengthening adequate surveillance, and improving the safety of public spaces. Ultimately, the responsibility for preventing violence against women should not rest predominantly on those who are most at risk of experiencing it.