South Africa’s femicide crisis: Olorato Mongale’s tragic story reveals a global epidemic

Femicide continues to be a global issue. In South Africa, 11 women are murdered every day, which is equivalent to one woman being killed every two hours.

These statistics highlight the unjustifiable violence against women.

The recent case of Olorato Mongale (30), who accepted a lunch date invitation from a man she met a few days earlier, which ended in tragedy, puts a face to such crimes.

Mongale’s body was found in Lombardy, north of Johannesburg, on 25 May, just two hours after she was reported missing.

In an interview with the SABC, her aunt, Criselda Kananda, confirmed that her neice was a responsible young woman who always shared her location with her friends. It was a ritual for her and her friends to do this to ensure their safety.

Women all around the world have for years taken to social media to express how they are afraid of rejecting men and how men would not just take ‘no’ for an answer.

Many women speak about how they would rather encounter a bear than a man in a forest.

To avoid becoming a statistic, women have admitted to giving men their cellphone numbers when they ask, out of fear of being harmed or killed.

@sarahkayimani

Block them as soon as you can and keep your chances of getting beat up down #women #girls #woman

♬ original sound – SarahKay

@patience_phiri

I was terrified 😭👍🏾

♬ original sound – patience_phiri

Women share their thoughts on X

Giving men your number when they ask and blocking them after so they don’t kill you >>

— tèmilolúwa (@temitotheworld) November 7, 2024

A lot of babes I know don’t even bother arguing with men that stop to ask for their number in public. We just give them our number and block them after. That decision could mean life/death/bodily harm for you.

— Nabi 🦋 (@ramisco) November 9, 2022

Being a woman in South Africa is the scariest experience. No one protects us at all.

— olwethu🇵🇸 (@NerveOfTheNegro) April 2, 2025

Yesterday I saw that we have the dubious honour of having a femicide rate 5 times the global average. It is 5 times more dangerous to be a woman in South Africa than anywhere else in the world. Let that sink in.

— samantha cowen (@samcowen) August 26, 2020

Yesterday I saw that we have the dubious honour of having a femicide rate 5 times the global average. It is 5 times more dangerous to be a woman in South Africa than anywhere else in the world. Let that sink in.

— samantha cowen (@samcowen) August 26, 2020

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