More than 100 Ballito residents joined thousands of South Africans on Friday in a 15-minute silent protest at Clarke Bay.

The protest marked the start of the 16 Days of Activism campaign against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF).

The day prior President Cyril Ramaphosa declared GBVF a national crisis at the closing ceremony of the G20 Social Summit in Ekurhuleni, after mounting pressure from civil society and a petition with over a million signatures.

KwaDukuza has not been spared from the scourge. This month alone, a woman was killed in front of her child in Ntshawini; a woman in Gledhow was raped at knifepoint by her boyfriend; a seven-year-old girl was raped in Nkobongo and a Ballito domestic violence case ended in an attempted suicide.

Ballito resident Bernie Pearce, whose daughter Robyn was stabbed to death in Cape Town in 2016, attended the protest at Clarke Bay.

“I sent her to university and she came back in a casket. The pain has never gone away,” said Pearce. She recalled the judge telling her daughter’s killer he would be lenient because he “still had a future,” sentencing him to 18 years.

“It will be nine years this December and the pain is still here. We need to reconsider the death sentence.”

Nationally, 5 578 women were murdered in the past year – an average of 15 per day.

Rise Up Movement founder Josha Daniel urged the community to back the Women For Change Shutdown and to speak out.

“A lit candle reminds us of every life lost and every survivor. It shows there is hope when a community speaks with one voice,” he said.

Docrra COO Mary Kassam thanked residents for standing in solidarity and praised the Rise Up team’s efforts to combat GBV.

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