South Africa declares gender violence a national disaster after protests

Fifteen women are killed every day in a country with one of the highest rates of gender violence in the world.

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Women were urged to "withdraw from the economy for one day", and lie down for 15 minutes at 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT) in honour of the 15 females who are murdered in the country every day.

The state had refused to make the categorisation but changed tack after "evaluating the persistent and immediate life-safety risks posed by ongoing acts of violence".

South Africa experiences some of the world's highest levels of gender-based violence (GBV), with the rate at which women are killed five times higher than the global average, according to UN Women.

The National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) has classified GBV and femicide a disaster following "a thorough reassessment of previous reports and updated submissions from organs of state as well as civil organisations", said Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa.