Women are still fighting for freedom: De Bruyn, Amnesty International – SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.
Anti-apartheid activist Sophie de Bruyn has lamented the lack of freedom women continue to endure, 70 years after the Women’s March, speaking at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria. She spoke of the paradox of the hope for a better life for their children that the over 20,000 women who marched then embodied, compared to the current state of affairs.
De Bruyn has challenged the present generation of women to take up the fight for their own liberation against gender-based violence and patriarchy.
📸 Mama Sophia Williams-De Bruyn at the 2026 National Women’s Day Commemoration. 🇿🇦
A living symbol of courage, resilience and the enduring spirit of the women of 1956.#WomensDay2026 #GovZAUpdates #EmpowerdWomanEmpowerdNation ##70YearsWomensMarch pic.twitter.com/FwPIIkxZc1
“Every single day, I weep for the girl child, the daughters, the mothers, and grandmothers that are abused and silenced that is not the freedom we fought for we fought to dismantle the systemic oppression of women as a race class and gender, but today we feel the cruel calcification of entrenched poverty, lack of clean drinking water homelessness and systemic corruption,” says De Bruyn.
EXCLUSIVE | Former South African anti-apartheid activist Sophia Williams-De Bruyn says: “So I say to women that carry on, don’t give up; carry on with protests. It may seem as if it is not working, but it is a weapon, and they will in the end succumb to that weapon.” pic.twitter.com/vI2Kc0YvPh
Meanwhile, Amnesty International South Africa says women continue to be trapped in cycles of violence, poverty and failing basic services, decades after apartheid. As the country marks National Women’s Day, the organisation says nearly 10,000 rapes were reported between January and March, this year, an average of about 108 a day.
It says failures in water and sanitation services are also putting women at greater risk, particularly in informal settlements.
Amnesty International says that for many women, the struggle for safety does not end with the threat of violence. It is also shaped by the conditions in which they live.
The organisation says poor access to water and sanitation can force women and girls to use unsafe facilities or walk long distances, increasing their vulnerability to crime and sexual violence.
It has called on government to tackle these service delivery failures alongside gender-based violence, saying women’s rights to safety, dignity and basic services must translate into real change.
VIDEO | Women’s Day | Anti-Apartheid Activist Sophie De Bruyn shares message of support