{"id":93286,"date":"2025-11-21T16:31:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T16:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa"},"modified":"2025-11-21T17:18:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T17:18:32","slug":"national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa","title":{"rendered":"National disaster officially called in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Gender based violence and feminicide (GBVF) have officially been classified a National Disaster following widespread protests across South Africa.<\/p>\n

The Head of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), Dr Bongani Elias Sithole, has classified GBVF as a national disaster.<\/p>\n

Today, 21 November 2025, thousands have protested across South Africa as part of a national shutdown to highlight the nation\u2019s rampant GBVF.<\/p>\n

A demonstration has been organised by NGO Women for Change, which called on the government to declare GBV a national disaster.<\/p>\n

Minister of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA, Velenkosini Hlabisa, welcomed the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decisive action follows a thorough reassessment of previous reports and updated submissions from organs of state as well as civil organisations,\u201d said COGTA.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter evaluating the persistent and immediate life-safety risks posed by ongoing acts of violence, the NDMC has concluded that GBVF now meets the threshold of a potential disaster as defined in the Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Executive now bears the primary responsibility for coordinating and managing national disasters.<\/p>\n

The government will use existing legislation and the contingency arrangements already established across government.<\/p>\n

The classification calls on all organs of state to strengthen their support for existing GBVF response structures to implement their contingency arrangements fully.<\/p>\n

They will also need to ensure that all necessary mechanisms are activated to enable the National Executive to manage the disaster effectively.<\/p>\n

Section 22 of the Disaster Management Act allows for the following:<\/p>\n

Organs of state, the private sector, communities and individuals are urged to intensify their risk-reduction and prevention practices through the implementation of GBVF-related standards, procedures and legislative measures.<\/p>\n

Individuals are strongly encouraged to refrain from any acts of gender-based violence or femicide.<\/p>\n

National, provincial, and municipal authorities have been told to implement multisectoral prevention, mitigation, relief and rehabilitation plans to address the effects of this disaster holistically.<\/p>\n

Notably, the classification does not invoke emergency powers and instead reinforces and strengthens the systems already in place.<\/p>\n

This is a notable distinction between a state of disaster being \u201cclassified\u201d and a state of disaster being \u201cdeclared\u201d.<\/p>\n

Classifying a state of disaster allows the government to co-ordinate and manage disaster response by assigning responsibility to specific spheres of government.<\/p>\n

A national state of disaster is classified when more than one province is impacted where response cannot be managed effectively.<\/p>\n

Where existing legislation and contingency measures are inadequate<\/b> to deal with the situation, or other special circumstances exist, the government would declare a state of disaster.<\/p>\n

All organs of state will need to report to the NDMC to enable the monitoring of interventions by government departments, municipalities, NGOs and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis effort pulls together every sphere of government and every critical sector: policing, social development, justice, health, education, economic development, and traditional leadership,\u201d said Hlabisa.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbove all, it confirms a fundamental truth: GBVF is not a women\u2019s issue. It is a national crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Gender based violence and feminicide (GBVF) have officially been classified a National Disaster following widespread protests across South Africa. The Head of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC), Dr Bongani Elias Sithole, has classified GBVF as a national disaster. Today, 21 November 2025, thousands have protested across South Africa as part of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":93285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-93286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nNational disaster officially called in South Africa - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gender based violence and feminicide (GBVF) have officially been classified a National Disaster following widespread pro ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National disaster officially called in South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gender based violence and feminicide (GBVF) have officially been classified a National Disaster following widespread pro ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-21T16:31:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-21T17:18:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763732894.520513.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"804\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"488\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"National disaster officially called in South Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-21T16:31:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-21T17:18:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa\"},\"wordCount\":493,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763732894.520513.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/national-disaster-officially-called-in-south-africa\",\"name\":\"National disaster officially called in South Africa - 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