- Experts warned that the presence of a gun in the home increases the risk of femicide by five times, with more than 300,000 women threatened annually. As panellist Claudia Lopes emphasised, “Every firearm in a home where there is intimate partner violence is a potential death sentence.”
- Survivor and author Sixolile Mbali delivered a powerful testimony about being raped, shot, and left for dead. She reminded delegates of the enduring toll of firearm-enabled violence: “I live with a bullet that can’t be removed… I’m the one who carries the pain every day.”
- Shelter staff remain on the frontline of danger, often confronting armed abusers who track or intimidate them while seeking survivors. This reality highlights the urgent need for more vigorous enforcement and protection measures for shelter workers.
The 2025 National Shelter Indaba featured a significant and impactful session focused on the theme, “Losing Liberty and Life: The Impact of Firearms on Domestic Violence in South Africa.” Participants, including researchers, advocates, and survivors, examined how the increasing prevalence of firearms in South African households poses ongoing risks to women’s safety. The session concluded with calls for enhanced accountability measures and improved law enforcement responses.
Ms Claudia Lopes, Human Rights and Gender Justice Programme Manager at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Cape Town, moderated the discussion. With over two decades in gender-justice advocacy in South Africa and the United Kingdom, Ms Lopes’s research has primarily focused on promoting accountability among law enforcement personnel involved in domestic violence.
The panel featured a diverse group of experts and advocates, including Lisa Vetten, a researcher and specialist in gender-based violence (GBV); Ms Kerryn Rehse from the Mosaic Training Service & Healing Centre for Women; Ms Clair Taylor of Gun Free South Africa (GFSA); Ms Sixolile Mbalo, a survivor and author; and Batsirai Bakare from the Nissa Institute for Women’s Development.
Throughout the discussion, the panellists explored the critical intersection between domestic violence and the presence of firearms in the home. They highlighted compelling statistics demonstrating that when a gun is present in a domestic setting, the risk of femicide is multiplied by fivefold.
Ms Claudia Lopes emphasised the gravity of the issue, stating, “Every firearm in a home where there is intimate partner violence is a potential death sentence.” This underscores the urgent need for stricter gun control laws and more robust enforcement to protect women from the deadly risks posed by accessible firearms in abusive households.
A Disturbing Return to Violence
Lisa Vetten, a renowned researcher and specialist in gender-based violence, issued a stark warning about the resurgence of femicide rates in South Africa, highlighting a troubling reversal after two decades of progress. She noted that in 2021, murders committed by intimate partners began to climb, with the provinces of Gauteng and the Eastern Cape experiencing particularly pronounced increases.
Vetten emphasised that firearms are increasingly being used in these fatal attacks, with their prevalence now surpassing levels seen in the 1990s. She further explained that over 300,000 women are threatened with guns each year, underscoring the pervasive danger posed by firearms in domestic settings. Disturbingly, many of these women are killed with weapons that, according to existing laws, should have been confiscated to prevent such tragedies.
“Firearms are the one weapon we can control, yet the system still fails to remove them,” Vetten cautioned, drawing attention to the persistent gaps in implementation and enforcement of gun control measures designed to protect women’s lives.
Building on this concern, Kerryn Rehse, representing the Mosaic Training, Service and Healing Centre for Women, highlighted a growing concern among shelters: more women are seeking refuge to escape partners who possess firearms, both legally and illegally. This alarming trend reinforces the urgent need for comprehensive, coordinated action across the justice system, law enforcement, and community networks. Rehse called for “a whole-of-system approach that includes justice, policing, and community awareness,” stressing that only such integrated efforts can adequately protect women and reduce the lethal threat posed by firearms in domestic violence situations.
When Law and Practice Don’t Meet
Kerryn Rehse from the Mosaic Training, Service, and Healing Centre for Women described how court procedures continue to leave survivors vulnerable.
“Even when magistrates order a gun to be taken away, there’s no mechanism to confirm whether it’s been done,” she explained. “We can track a protection order, but not a gun.” This lack of follow-through means that, while protection orders can be tracked, there is no reliable system to ensure that firearms are removed from abusers’ possession. Such gaps leave survivors at continued risk, undermining the intent of legal protections.
Barriers to Shelter Access for Families
Rehse further noted that women escaping violence with older male children often encounter significant obstacles when seeking shelter placements. The limited accommodation options force many mothers to make agonising decisions between keeping their children safe and maintaining family unity, illustrating yet another layer of hardship faced by those fleeing armed partners.
Frontline Fear
Batisrai Bakare from the Nissa Institute for Women’s Development shared a harrowing incident that captured the daily risks faced by shelter workers. She recounted how an abusive partner once arrived at the shelter, pretending to search for his car keys. He was monitoring the entrance to see who was coming in and out of the building. Sima explained that she was assisting his wife to access protection services, and if the man realised this, the situation could have turned violent.
“If he knew I was helping his wife, he could have shot me too,” she said. “In that moment, I wasn’t only afraid for her safety; I feared for my own life.”
Her experience underscores the constant danger faced by shelter workers who protect survivors while navigating unpredictable, high-risk situations.
A Surge in Firearms and False Promises of Safety
Clair Taylor from Gun Free South Africa (GFSA) warned of a dangerous rise in gun ownership, fuelled by misleading messaging.
“We’re seeing campaigns that tell mothers to buy guns to ‘be your child’s bodyguard,'” she said. “But there’s absolutely no evidence that guns make women safer; in fact, the evidence shows the opposite.”
Taylor revealed that firearm-licence applications have surged by 58 percent, bringing around 162 000 new guns into private homes.
“That’s alarming, because guns are seven times more deadly than any other weapon in a domestic-violence situation,” she said.
She proposed taxing firearms and ammunition to fund support services for survivors.
“If every bullet sold contributed to a survivor’s recovery, we could turn instruments of harm into tools for healing,” she suggested.
Taylor announced that GFSA will launch a new research report in Cape Town on 9 December, featuring the story of a woman murdered after police failed to remove a firearm from her abuser.
Survivor’s Testimony: Living with a Bullet
When Sixolile Mbali took the microphone, the hall fell silent.
“I am a victim of rape,” she said softly. “I was shot and left in a pit toilet to die, just because I said no.”
Kidnapped overnight and abandoned at dawn, she survived through faith. “If it weren’t for God, I would have died that day. The bullet missed my heart and hit my shoulder. He wanted to hide my body in that pit.” Her perpetrator was sentenced to life imprisonment, but, as she told the audience, she too lives a life sentence.
“I live with a bullet that can’t be removed,” she said. “He showed no remorse when I faced him in prison. I’m the one who carries the pain every day.”
Now an author and advocate, Mbali channels her trauma into activism.
“I chose to speak out so other women know they are not alone,” she said. “I visit correctional centres to confront perpetrators, to ask why, why choose violence? I want them to see the pain they caused, and I want survivors to see that healing is possible.”
A Call for Accountability
Closing the discussion, Claudia Lopes reminded delegates that real reform begins with removing the tools of violence.
‘We cannot talk about ending femicide without addressing the weapons that make it possible,” she said. “Firearms amplify fear, silence victims, and take lives, and we must act to disarm abusers before they destroy another family.”
Held from 11 to 13 November 2025 in Johannesburg, the National Shelter Indaba continues to bring together government, civil society partners, and survivors to forge a South Africa where every woman lives free from violence and the threat of gun violence.
*This article was originally published by DSD News. The article has been edited to correct the spelling of a name and clarify the correct event speaker.