JOHANNESBURG – A day of a shutdown costs less than decades of violence.
These are the words of Phinius Sebatsane from the Rea Thusana Foundation, a non-profit organisation that supports people experiencing homelessness, gender-based violence (GBV), and human trafficking.
Sebatsane was speaking ahead of Friday’s planned national shutdown.
This is a countrywide call to action aimed at highlighting South Africa’s GBV crisis and pressuring government to prioritise the fight against femicide.
Across social media, timelines and profile pictures have turned purple in solidarity with a movement led by advocacy group Women for Change.
For Sebatsane, the shutdown is not just a symbolic stand; it’s deeply personal.
At the age of 12, he witnessed his stepfather abuse his mother.
“From that day, I decided as a young man to step up and take my stepfather’s things out of the house. I kicked him out and told him never to come back,” he recalled.
“I think from that day I realised my responsibility as a man to protect vulnerable women in my community," Sebatsane.
Sebatsane painted a bleak picture of the state of safety for women in South Africa, saying the country remains in crisis.
Through Rea Thusana, he conducts talks in prisons, shelters, and even on the streets, focusing on healing traumatised men who struggle to process their pain.
“A lot of our work is helping men grieve the things they have lost. It’s about helping men be in touch with their emotions. Because a man who does not cry ends up bleeding on people,” he said.
He emphasised that men must play an active role in holding one another accountable if real change is to be achieved.