BEND TOGETHER

LESS TALK. MORE ACCOUNTABILITY.

In November 2025, gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) was formally classified as a national disaster in South Africa.

At the time, Parliament called for clear 30-, 60- and 90-day deliverables from government departments.

In February 2026, Parliamentary committees were still asking important questions about how the national disaster response would be funded, what its implementation timelines would be and how progress would be measured.

Now, following the recent killings of women in Ekurhuleni and Kempton Park, Parliament’s Committee on the Presidency has again said that it will demand comprehensive progress reports on the tangible implementation of South Africa’s National Strategic Plan on GBVF.

So we think South Africans are entitled to ask:

What has actually happened?

What was promised?

What has been implemented?

What funding has been allocated?

What has actually been spent?

What measurable outcomes have been achieved?

And where can ordinary South Africans see the progress?

A national disaster cannot exist only in statements, speeches and headlines.

Show us the work.
Show us the money.
Show us the progress.

WHY BEND IS GETTING INVOLVED

Bend is an activewear brand. We aren’t Parliament, the police, a political party or a GBVF organisation — and we aren’t pretending to be.

But our community includes women who run, walk, train, travel and move through South Africa every day.

We have a platform. We can use it to make useful information easier to find.

We don’t want to create another hashtag, duplicate work already being done by organisations and individuals, or tell women how to protect themselves.

Instead, we want to give our community practical ways to participate in existing civic processes and ask for accountability.

We have therefore gathered existing petitions, the relevant Parliamentary contact information and a draft email that any South African can choose to send.

Bend is not affiliated with any of the petitions or political organisations listed below.

We are providing them as resources so that you can read what each petition is asking for and decide for yourself whether you wish to support it.

01. ADD YOUR NAME

Several petitions are currently calling for action on gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa. They are linked below:

HOLD GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE FOR GBVF RESPONSE

A recently created, non-party petition focused particularly on accountability following the classification of GBVF as a national disaster.

Its demands include greater transparency around implementation of the National Strategic Plan on GBVF, budget allocations, forensic and DNA backlogs, Parliamentary oversight and a public implementation timeline.

→ SIGN: Hold Government Accountable for GBVF Response

DEMAND URGENT SAFETY MEASURES FOR GBV IN SOUTH AFRICA

This petition calls for measures including implementation and funding of the National Strategic Plan on GBVF, SAPS accountability, action on forensic DNA backlogs and improvements to the criminal-justice response.

→ SIGN: Demand Urgent Safety Measures for GBV in South Africa

ENOUGH SA: WOMEN DESERVE TO LIVE

A non-party petition calling for functioning investigations and prosecutions, safer public spaces and transport routes, adequately funded survivor services and greater institutional transparency and accountability.

→ SIGN: Enough SA

WOMEN NEED ACTION NOT ADVICE

PLEASE NOTE - BEND IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH THE DA. This petition is an initiative of the Democratic Alliance and is therefore party-political. We wanted to include it because there is a lot of traction with this petition, and we want to get the answers we deserve. 

Its stated demands include properly resourcing Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences units, addressing DNA-processing delays and publishing regular statistics on violence against women and children.

We include it here for completeness so that you can read its demands and decide independently whether you wish to support it.

→ SIGN: Women Need Action Not Advice

02. ASK FOR ANSWERS

Signing a petition isn’t the only way to make your voice heard.

You can also contact Parliament directly.

We’ve drafted an email asking the relevant Parliamentary committees to exercise their oversight role and make information about the national GBVF response accessible to the South African public.

You don’t have to use our wording.

Copy it, change it, shorten it or write your own.

The point is simple:

Ask the questions.

SEND TO

TO:
mdumezweni@parliament.gov.za

CC:
lvandermerwe@parliament.gov.za
scassiem@parliament.gov.za
bmbengo@parliament.gov.za
vramaano@parliament.gov.za
lntsabo@parliament.gov.za

SUBJECT:
GBVF is a national disaster — please show us the response

COPY THIS EMAIL

“Dear Chairperson and Members of the Portfolio Committee,

I am writing as a South African citizen to request greater public accountability regarding the national response to gender-based violence and femicide.

GBVF was formally classified as a national disaster in November 2025.

At the time, Parliament stated that it would demand clear 30-, 60- and 90-day deliverables from departments in line with the national disaster classification.

I am therefore asking Parliament, in exercising its oversight role, to ensure that South Africans are provided with clear, accessible and measurable information about what has happened since that classification.

Specifically, I ask that the relevant organs of state publicly disclose:

• the interventions implemented since the national-disaster classification;

• progress against the 30-, 60- and 90-day departmental deliverables;

• the funding allocated to the GBVF response, where those funds have been directed and expenditure to date;

• the departments and public bodies responsible for implementation and the targets against which their performance is being measured;

• measurable outcomes achieved since the classification;

• the measures being taken to improve the safety of public spaces in which women are particularly vulnerable, including running and walking routes, parks and transport corridors; and

• how and when progress on the national GBVF response will be reported publicly on an ongoing basis.

A national disaster requires a coordinated, measurable and accountable national response.

I therefore ask Parliament to use its oversight mechanisms to obtain these answers from the responsible organs of state and to make that information accessible to the South African public.

I would appreciate acknowledgement of this correspondence and information on how Parliament intends to exercise its oversight role in relation to these matters.

Kind regards,

[Full name]
[Province]
South Africa

Sent in support of the BEND TOGETHER initiative.“

03. FOLLOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

This part matters to us.

We don’t want to put up a post, link to a petition and move on when the news cycle does.

If Bend receives substantive responses, information or developments relating to the questions we’re asking, we’ll update this page and share them with our community.

Where Parliament publishes progress reports, hearings, budgets or other relevant information about implementation of the national GBVF response, we’ll point you towards those too.

This isn’t about Bend having all the answers.

It’s about continuing to ask for them.

LESS TALK. MORE ACCOUNTABILITY.

We don’t need another promise.

We don’t need another statement that disappears when the headlines change.

South Africa classified GBVF as a national disaster.

Now South Africans are entitled to understand what that classification has actually changed.

Show us the work.
Show us the money.
Show us the progress.

BEND TOGETHER.