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George Municipality officials stand in solidarity against GBVF

In the photo: A wide-angle view of the solidarity demonstration held outside George City Hall on 18 September 2026, drawing municipal staff and community members together to protest against GBVF.

In solidarity with efforts to end gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa, George Municipality officials, accompanied by Executive Mayor Alderman Browen Johnson, joined millions of South Africans in taking a stand against violence against women and children.

Officials gathered outside George City Hall on Friday, 18 September 2026, at 13:00, following reports of nine women who lost their lives to alleged gender-based violence in Kempton Park and surrounding areas.

Dressed in black as a sign of mourning, the officials observed a moment of silence following a prayer led by Pastor Ahene Jonathan. An empty coffin was placed at the gathering as a symbol of the call for an end to the killing of women.

Organiser and LGBTQI+ and HIV/AIDS Project Coordinator Khanyisile Fortuin speaks during the demonstration, highlighting the symbolic empty coffin representing the demand to end the killing of women.

According to one of the organisers, Khanyisile Fortuin, a George Municipality official, LGBTQI+ and HIV/AIDS Project Coordinator, and GBVF activist, the empty coffin represents the demand that no more women lose their lives to gender-based violence.

“Enough is enough! We can no longer normalise women being killed and buried because of gender-based violence. We say, as women: my body, my choice; my body is no one’s crime scene. We have had enough, and this coffin in front of us will remain empty of women’s bodies,” Fortuin said.

Organisers and officials position the symbolic empty coffin outside George City Hall, representing the call for an end to gender-based violence and femicide.

The Executive Mayor expressed his sadness at the ongoing killings of women in South Africa and emphasised that such incidents should not simply be treated as crime statistics. “This is a great concern. We cannot just take these killings as another statistic in the crime records of South Africa,” Mayor Johnson said.

“We are standing behind an empty coffin that symbolises that enough is enough. Women should not be judged because they choose to wear certain types of clothes, go for a jog or simply go to the post office. This is not fair to our women, young women, and women of all ages in this country.

“We say to the men: please stop this behaviour and work with us. And to the women: speak out. Let us not allow this to continue,” Mayor Johnson said.

Executive Mayor Alderman Browen Johnson addresses officials and stakeholders, emphasizing that the ongoing killings of women must not simply be treated as crime statistics.

Ms Marilyn Olifant, Founding Director of Legally You, an organisation working against GBVF, also attended the gathering in support of the demonstration. “We will not allow any further gender-based violence or domestic violence in this district. This is the end. This is enough. We will continue our collaborative approach with all stakeholders within this jurisdiction to fight GBVF,” Olifant said.

Speaking on behalf of men, George Municipality official Mongameli Kaliko called for moral regeneration and a renewed commitment among men to protect women and children and promote safer communities. “There was a time when women could walk freely without fear in the streets of George. Where is our humanity? Where is the love, peace, harmony, and protection? “I want to say to men: when women meet you, they must see protection and love, and when children meet you, they must see care. Moral regeneration must begin in our homes and families. As men, we need to lead young boys by example and show them that love can overcome violence,” Kaliko said.

George Municipality officials and community members gather outside the George City Hall dressed in black to observe a moment of silence and take a stand against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

The gathering also featured placards carrying messages such as “Silence protects the perpetrator of the victim” and “April 2026 – June 2026: 11 532 Sexual Offences – End GBV”. Officials also expressed their solidarity through song, including the isiXhosa song “Senzeni Na?”, meaning “What have we done?”

Traffic Department Officials, who could not go to the main event in front of George City Hall, observed from the Traffic Department.

The Municipality continues to support initiatives that promote awareness, prevention and collective action against gender-based violence and femicide.

“Thank you to the staff of the George Municipality who came out in solidarity against gender-based violence and the brutal killing of women and children,” Mayor Johnson concluded.

A wide-angle view of the solidarity demonstration held outside George City Hall on 18 September 2026, drawing municipal staff and community members together to protest against GBVF.