A Reflection on the Benoni Court Silent Protest Against Gender-Based Violence

On 21 November, something sacred unfolded outside the Benoni Magistrates Court in South Africa.
Women stood together, not shouting, not chanting, not carrying banners dripping with anger, but standing in silence.
A silence that was louder than any megaphone.
A silence that held centuries of pain.
A silence that refused to be ignored.Among them was someone dear to my heart Claudia, my assistant, my sister, a woman whose courage flows quietly yet fiercely through the world.
She joined hands and hearts with other women in a silent protest calling for Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) to be declared a national disaster.

And truly… it is.

We often reserve the word disaster for hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes events that tear through landscapes and leave devastation in their wake.
But what do we call violence that destroys a woman’s body, mind, spirit, and future?
What do we call the trauma that stalks children in their sleep?
What do we call the fear that forces women to silence themselves to survive another day?South Africa has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for women, but this is not South Africa’s problem alone.
This is the world’s grief.
This is humanity’s heartbreak.

The Benoni City Times article captured it well:
a silent protest demanding that this epidemic be recognised for what it is an emergency that requires immediate intervention, government accountability,
and societal awakening.

But before policies shift, hearts must shift.
Before laws change, culture must change.
And before the world hears survivors,
it must stop dismissing their pain.

When I saw the images of the walk, the placards, the faces, the solemn unity, my heart softened and strengthened all at once.

Claudia was not just present.
She was present on behalf of.

She stood for the woman still living in fear.
She walked for the woman who never made it out.
She stood for the girls whose innocence was stolen before they even understood their worth.
She walked for the women whose voices tremble each time they try to speak their truth.
She stood for women who were told they were overreacting, dramatic, imagining things.

She stood for women like me.
Like you.
Like the millions of unnamed faces we may never meet.

This is how change begins not always with crowds, but with one woman who chooses courage over comfort, truth over tradition, and solidarity over silence.

Silence is a language.
A spiritual one.
A language that carries the weight of everything words could not hold.

In that silence outside the Benoni Court, there was:
• Grief for the women lost
• Anger for the lives stolen
• Love for the survivors
• Demand for justice
• Unity that broke through racial, economic, and generational lines
• Strength that said, “We will not go quietly into the night.”

Silence can be a scream.
Silence can be a weapon.
Silence can be a prayer.
Silence can be a revolution.

When Claudia walked, she carried more than a placard.
She carried purpose.

As a survivor of sexual and domestic abuse myself and as a woman who has stood on the edge of unimaginable hardship, I know what it means to live in a body that remembers pain long after the bruises fade.
I know what it means to keep silent because silence feels safer than the truth.
I know what it means to rebuild your life from the ashes of trauma,
piece by piece, breath by breath, prayer by prayer.

This movement is not abstract for me.
It is deeply personal.
It is rooted in my story, my healing, and my calling.

Women are tired of surviving.
We want to live.
We want to rise.
We want to reclaim.

And that is the heartbeat behind my book, Unstoppable Resilience, not just a story, but a message:
You can heal.
You can rise.
You can reclaim your life.
You are not broken.
You are becoming.

Gender-Based Violence is not a women’s issue, it’s a human issue. And the world must learn to respond to women’s cries with:
• Protection, not blame.
• Justice, not excuses.
• Support, not silence.
• Compassion, not criticism.
• Healing, not judgment.

The women at Benoni Court were declaring something spiritually powerful:
We refuse to carry this pain quietly anymore.
We refuse to bury another sister.
We refuse to normalize violence.

And they are right.

To every woman reading this  whether you marched, watched, prayed, cried, or simply paused your voice is part of the movement.

You don’t have to carry a sign to take a stand.
You don’t need a crowd to say “Enough.”
You can begin right where you are:
• Speak when your spirit nudges you.
• Support women without questioning their pain.
• Raise boys who honour women.
• Challenge systems that protect perpetrators.
• Choose empathy over indifference.

When women rise, nations rise.
When women heal, families heal.
When women unite, the world shifts.

To the woman who has endured the unthinkable;
Your story matters.
Your tears matter.
Your healing matters.

You are not alone.
You are not invisible.
You are not too late.

There is strength in your softness, courage in your breath, and power in your presence.

And like Claudia, like the women of Benoni, like millions around the world, you, too, carry a fire the world cannot extinguish.

May you rise.
May you heal.
May you reclaim.
May you become unstoppable.

 
#StopGBV #EnoughIsEnough #TogetherWeRise #UnstoppableResilience #DeclareGBVFADisaster