Mara Glennie, founder of the prominent TEARS Foundation.
The South African government’s failure to tackle gender-based violence (GBV) is a catastrophic betrayal that is costing women their lives, a leading frontline charity has warned.
In a scathing indictment of state paralysis, Mara Glennie, founder of the prominent TEARS Foundation, demanded an immediate end to "symbolic activism" and called for a radical institutional restructuring to wrest control of the crisis away from failing government ministers. Despite South Africa maintaining one of the highest femicide rates globally, landmark legislation remains trapped in bureaucratic limbo while the criminal justice system buckles under a staggering backlog of more than 140,000 unprocessed DNA samples.
"We cry for my beloved country for the failure to address gender-based violence," Glennie said, launching an unprecedented attack on what she described as the state's "second pandemic." "South Africa does not lack well-written policies; it lacks political courage and functional implementation. We will no longer sit quietly while structural incompetence costs lives daily."
Independent oversight reviews and parliamentary audits reveal a state response crippled by internal mismanagement, underfunding, and logistical chaos. The most severe failure lies within the South African Police Service (SAPS) Forensic Science Laboratory. A parliamentary probe recently confirmed that hundreds of rape and murder cases are being routinely thrown out or struck off court rolls because the state cannot produce timely DNA and toxicology results.
