‘Awareness is not a problem anymore’: Uyinene’s mother calls for action 7 years after daughter’s murder

Seven years after UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana was murdered after walking into a post office in Claremont, Cape Town, her mother, Nomangwane “Noma” Mrwetyana, says the fight against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) must move from awareness to action.

Noma was speaking in KuGompo City on Saturday, where the Uyinene Mrwetyana Foundation held a memorial walk in honour of her daughter.

“It has been seven years since Uyinene left on August 24 2019. She walked into that post office and she never came out,” said Noma.

Her death sparked nationwide outrage and became a rallying point in South Africa’s fight against GBVF.

Speaking about the establishment of the Uyinene Foundation, Noma said the organisation was created to ensure her daughter would be remembered for more than the circumstances of her death.

“As a family, we decided to establish the Uyinene Foundation in honour of Uyinene.”

Noma said the foundation had two key purposes: to celebrate Uyinene’s life and to continue the fight against GBVF.

“We believe as a family she cannot be known as that UCT girl who was killed at the post office. She was more than that, and the foundation is used as a vehicle to tell the story that Uyinene was not only the person who fought at the post office until she took her last breath.

“She was an academic, she was bubbly, she was a fashionista,” Noma said.

“Reason number two was for us to continue with the fight. I recently revisited the clips from the funeral and one of the things that her brother said during the funeral. He said, ‘Your fight is now our fight.’

“As a foundation, we took a decision to say we will continue to fight against GBVF and all other social ills.”

Noma said the annual walk was not only about remembering Uyinene but also about reflecting on the progress, or lack thereof, in the fight against GBVF.

“Seven years on, you may be asking why we are here today. It is to do exactly that. To celebrate the person of Uyinene as well as to continue with the fight against GBVF.”

This year’s theme, “From Awareness to Action”, was a call for greater accountability and collaboration between institutions tasked with addressing GBVF.

“The theme is saying from awareness to action. We want to believe that there has been enough awareness, or let me say to a certain extent. So let’s put our hands together today,” said Noma.

“We cannot work in silos; hence, we said the government must be here, SAPS must be here, the NPA must be here, and the Commission for Gender Equality must be here so that there’s a multidisciplinary approach in the fight against GBVF.”

Noma urged South Africans not to become desensitised to violence against women and children.

“We cannot give up. We don’t want it to one day be your child. Let’s use the incident to raise awareness of GBVF.”

Former Miss Universe, Zozibini Tunzi-Bolowana, who also took part in the memorial walk, said Uyinene’s mother had reflected on the painful circumstances through which the public first came to know her daughter.

“Today is such an important day. Uyinene’s mom was reflecting on seven years ago when she was introduced to us in the most painful, tragic way,” Tunzi-Bolowana told eNCA.

She said the walk was an opportunity to honour Uyinene while demanding meaningful action from those in power.

“Today we are here in her memory to remember her but also to continue to spread awareness, and we’ve spread enough awareness.”

Tunzi-Bolowana said women were increasingly demanding concrete action from the government after years of awareness campaigns and public commitments to tackle GBVF.

“Women are tired; women have been crying every day, and so now we want to see exactly what it is that the government will do and continue to do because if we look into last year, GBVF was considered a national crisis, and so to that we say, ‘What else should happen from now? What should we look forward to for women to feel free and safe in this country?’ So we’ll continue spreading that awareness until something changes.”

For Tunzi-Bolowana, the country has reached a point where awareness alone was no longer enough.

“Awareness is not a problem anymore. We’ve done more than enough of that. I think it is now the implementation of these policies that are supposed to be implemented correctly.”

She also raised concerns about the lack of accountability for perpetrators of GBVF.

“I feel like we’re not backed enough; we’re not supported enough. We’re seeing perpetrators getting away with things every day. Whether that be at the police station or whether it’s at a high government level. Not enough is being done, and that’s exactly where the issue is,” said Tunzi-Bolowana.