Jabulile Nhlapo's friends saw the writing on the wall and feared for her life but they didn't know how to stop it.

Nhlapo, 21, a University of South Africa student was shot and killed, allegedly by an ex-boyfriend, at a commune in Vanderbjilpark on Tuesday.

"We saw the signs that something bad was going to happen to Jabu but we didn't know how to stop it," her friend Thando Miya said yesterday.

The 29-year-old ex-boyfriend was arrested a day after the murder and is expected to appear in the Vanderbjilpark Magistrate's Court today on a charge of murder.

"Jabu had tried to leave the relationship because she said she was no longer happy with him. He said he would kill her if she did.

"It wasn't physical abuse but she was no longer happy with him," Miya said.

Nhlapo's death has again brought into sharp focus the increasing number of cases of gender-based violence perpetrated by intimate partners.

On Saturday, the family of Karabo Mokoena, who was killed by her boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe, held a memorial lecture at the Soweto Theatre in her honour and to highlight the scourge of femicide.

Mantsoe was sentenced to an effective 32 years imprisonment by the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on May 3.

Police Minister Bheki Cele said the abuse of women and children was a societal issue.

"My vision is when a young girl walks alone in the middle of the night without fear of any assault, rape or hurt by anybody. The safety of women is a societal issue, not only the issue of law enforcement."

Johannesburg chief public prosecutor Phumeza Futshane said in some cases abused women withdrew cases against perpetrators.

".These women are their own dangerous enemies. You come and open a case and then you come back and say he is the father of my children.

"As the National Prosecuting Authority we say do not come to us and withdraw cases. Give us these men so we can deal with them. This month alone I have 10 cases where I have to convince women not to withdraw cases."