THE CHALLENGE

In South Africa, 5,578 women were murdered between 2024-2024 — a staggering 33.8% rise in femicide in a single year. Yet government promises remained hollow.

Women For Change, a grassroots movement against gender-based violence, needed to cut through years of apathy and inaction. The challenge was to make the crisis visceral, visible, and urgent, transforming statistics into something no one could turn away from.

The goal: pressure the government to declare femicide a national disaster, accelerate long-delayed reforms, and reignite public outrage around one of the country’s most devastating human rights issues.

THE STRATEGY

Our strategy focused on three key audiences: government decision makers, active civil society participants, and a broader public disengaged from the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) crisis.

With femicide dominating media coverage year after year, public attention had dulled and government response remained inconsistent and slow. Our objective was not to raise awareness, but to compel action from those with the power to make systemic change. A planned demonstration at the Union Buildings provided a critical opportunity to confront leaders directly.

The Unburied Casket made the crisis unmissable, visually and culturally. Drawing on the symbolism of South African funeral processions, the casket embodied the rising femicide rate in physical form. It turned data into impact, and mourning into a unified demand for political accountability.

THE EXECUTION

We designed and produced a casket scaled up in size by 33.8% to reflect the annual rise in femicide. This was covered in a shroud of black, white and purple beads in a traditional Zulu beadwork style. Each of the 5,578 purple beads represented a woman murdered in the past year.

The casket interior was lined with images of victims and a QR code linking to an interactive website, which allowed the public to explore content on the crisis and biographies of dozens of murdered women. A printed memorandum addressed to the government and 150,000 petition signatures were placed inside the casket, demanding femicide be declared a national disaster.

As part of the demonstration, the casket was transported in a funeral procession by bead artists and the victims’ families — creating a powerful visual moment as a symbol of national grief. Our visibility continued to grow online, as we launched a social media campaign featuring a purple-avatar to build solidarity and participation.

The Unburied Casket secured national media coverage, including live broadcast of the protest and post-event amplification, reaching our target audiences across the country.

THE OUTCOME

The Unburied Casket made the crisis impossible to ignore; the Deputy Minister for Women signed the memorandum live at the protest, and within a week the government announced a 90-day blitz on femicide. The campaign reached over 173 million people, generated 890+ media stories, trended #1 on X, and achieved a 75:1 ROI. Proving that creativity, culture, and activism can drive real political change. The Unburied Casket will now live on, unburied, to keep the stories of victims alive.