"South Africa femicide rate is five times more than the global rate," minister of arts and culture Nathi Mthethwa was quoted addressing a femicide imbizo in June 2017.
Sowetan pays tribute to some of the femicide victims we reported on in recent years:
February 2017: Priska Schalk, 29, was found handcuffed and lying in a pool of blood at her Joburg CBD home on Commissioner Street. She had been stabbed to death by her husband Zacharia Mojela, 28. He used several knives, and two of them were still lodged in her chest when her body was discovered. Mojela was given a 20-year imprisonment.
April 2017: Karabo Mokoena, 22, died at the hands of her boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe. Karabo's remains were found in a ditch not far away from Mantsoe's mother's house in Lyndhurst, Johannesburg. Last year in May, Mantsoe was convicted of murder and sentenced to 32 years' imprisonment.
May 2017: Popi Qwabe, 24, and her best friend Bongeka Phungula, 28, were killed on May 12 after they had boarded a taxi to Maponya Mall in Klipspruit, Soweto. They had gunshot wounds and they appeared to have been raped. Two men, Alec Magaula Mamothame, 43, and Sandile Nkosi, 25, who were accused of kidnapping, robbing and killing Phungula and Qwabe, had their case provisionally withdrawn by the Protea magistrate's court in February last year.
May 2017: Hannah Cornelius, a 21-year-old student at the University of Stellenbosch, was brutally raped and murdered by four men she did not know. Her body was found on the side of a road, near a wine farm outside Stellenbosch. In November last year, three men - Vernon Witbooi, Geraldo Parsons and Eben van Niekerk - were sentenced to life imprisonment each for the rape and murder.
July 2017: The body of a law student at the University of Zululand, Lethukuthula Ngobese, was found mutilated and stuffed in a cardboard box at eSikhaleni outside Richards Bay in KZN.
Bhekuyise Mngoma, 52, was in August last year handed a life sentence for her murder.
May 2018: Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) student Zolile Khumalo, 21, was allegedly shot dead by her ex-boyfriend Thabani Mzolo in the face and arm at her MUT residence. Mzolo is currently on trial.
May 2018: Ntombizodwa Charlotte Dlamini, 42, a nurse, was shot and killed at her home in Richmond Crest, Durban, after an argument with her husband. He fled the scene and he was later found with a bullet wound in the chin.
May 2018: Nompumelelo Mthembu, 20, died from burn wounds after Siyabonga Buthelezi, 32, the father of her two children, placed a tyre around her neck and doused her with petrol.
In April , Buthelezi was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.
May 2018: Jabulile Nhlapo, 21, a Unisa student, was shot dead at a student residence in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg, by her ex-lover Lebohang Mofokeng, 30. In May, Mofokeng was handed a life sentence for the murder. He was also sentenced to five years' imprisonment for theft, four years for possession of a firearm and 18 months for possession of illegal ammunition.
Last month: An 18-year-old matric pupil, Meisie Maisha, was found dead with her eyes gouged out at the Soul City informal settlement on the West Rand. Her murder remains unsolved after three men initially arrested were set free.
Country's femicide list keeps growing
"South Africa femicide rate is five times more than the global rate," minister of arts and culture Nathi Mthethwa was quoted addressing a femicide imbizo in June 2017.
Sowetan pays tribute to some of the femicide victims we reported on in recent years:
February 2017: Priska Schalk, 29, was found handcuffed and lying in a pool of blood at her Joburg CBD home on Commissioner Street. She had been stabbed to death by her husband Zacharia Mojela, 28. He used several knives, and two of them were still lodged in her chest when her body was discovered. Mojela was given a 20-year imprisonment.
April 2017: Karabo Mokoena, 22, died at the hands of her boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe. Karabo's remains were found in a ditch not far away from Mantsoe's mother's house in Lyndhurst, Johannesburg. Last year in May, Mantsoe was convicted of murder and sentenced to 32 years' imprisonment.
May 2017: Popi Qwabe, 24, and her best friend Bongeka Phungula, 28, were killed on May 12 after they had boarded a taxi to Maponya Mall in Klipspruit, Soweto. They had gunshot wounds and they appeared to have been raped. Two men, Alec Magaula Mamothame, 43, and Sandile Nkosi, 25, who were accused of kidnapping, robbing and killing Phungula and Qwabe, had their case provisionally withdrawn by the Protea magistrate's court in February last year.
May 2017: Hannah Cornelius, a 21-year-old student at the University of Stellenbosch, was brutally raped and murdered by four men she did not know. Her body was found on the side of a road, near a wine farm outside Stellenbosch. In November last year, three men - Vernon Witbooi, Geraldo Parsons and Eben van Niekerk - were sentenced to life imprisonment each for the rape and murder.
July 2017: The body of a law student at the University of Zululand, Lethukuthula Ngobese, was found mutilated and stuffed in a cardboard box at eSikhaleni outside Richards Bay in KZN.
Bhekuyise Mngoma, 52, was in August last year handed a life sentence for her murder.
May 2018: Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) student Zolile Khumalo, 21, was allegedly shot dead by her ex-boyfriend Thabani Mzolo in the face and arm at her MUT residence. Mzolo is currently on trial.
May 2018: Ntombizodwa Charlotte Dlamini, 42, a nurse, was shot and killed at her home in Richmond Crest, Durban, after an argument with her husband. He fled the scene and he was later found with a bullet wound in the chin.
May 2018: Nompumelelo Mthembu, 20, died from burn wounds after Siyabonga Buthelezi, 32, the father of her two children, placed a tyre around her neck and doused her with petrol.
In April , Buthelezi was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder.
May 2018: Jabulile Nhlapo, 21, a Unisa student, was shot dead at a student residence in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg, by her ex-lover Lebohang Mofokeng, 30. In May, Mofokeng was handed a life sentence for the murder. He was also sentenced to five years' imprisonment for theft, four years for possession of a firearm and 18 months for possession of illegal ammunition.
Last month: An 18-year-old matric pupil, Meisie Maisha, was found dead with her eyes gouged out at the Soul City informal settlement on the West Rand. Her murder remains unsolved after three men initially arrested were set free.