These activities offer feminist visions, alternatives and perspectives across gender-based violence, mass resistance and economic justice.
Feminist Focus on Violence with Dr Zimbini Ogle
On 30 July, the CWGS and SARChI Chair in African Feminist Imagination hosted the second event in the Feminist Focus on Violence series.
The launch of clinical psychologist and researcher Dr Zimbini Ogle’s book Under Siege: Gender, Violence and Betrayal (2026) was held at the Indoor Sports Centre at the University – featuring Dr Ogle, in conversation with Professor Pumla Dineo Gqola and feminist thinker and activist Kwezilomso Mbandazayo.
Under Siege is published by UKZN Press, and explores gender-based violence with a specific focus on the town of Lusikisiki – which has one of the highest rates of GBV in the Eastern Cape.
Centering a structural and intersectional critique of inequality and calling for “reasonable hope”, the book considers the social, cultural and institutional factors and norms that shape gendered experiences of violence.
Urging readers not to turn away, Under Siege asks us to turn towards the act of “witnessing”, with Dr Ogle describing this act as one that requires "knowledge, compassion and the ability to analyse the structures that shape people's lives".
As Dr Ogle explained, Under Siege is an invitation to acknowledge and confront violence in communities that have long been neglected by both government and society. The book is more than a documentation of gender-based violence, it calls for accountability, justice and meaningful social transformation.
In her remarks, Kwezilomso Mbandazayo observed that one of the book's greatest strengths is its ability to expose the "mechanics of violence" and how it moves through everyday life and becomes embedded within families, institutions and communities. She noted that the book "writes with an urgency and an insistence about our witnessing and walking alongside”.
Women’s Day Commemoration with the Office of the Premier
On 9 August the Office of the Premier of the Eastern Cape hosted an official commemorative event, marking the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Women's March. Held under the theme, "Imbokodo: 70 Years of Women's Power, From Resilience to Transformation," the event took place at Ernest Swanepoel Hall in Despatch, Nelson Mandela Bay.
As part of the proceedings, Nelson Mandels University Vice Chancellor, Professor Sibongile Muthwa delivered a message of support. She was accompanied by Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Engagement and Transformation, Professor Andre Keet and CWGS Director Professor Babalwa Magoqwana.
In her address, Prof Muthwa honoured the 20 000 women who marched to Union Buildings against the extension of the pass laws, noting that “their courage, their determination and unity remain among the defining moments in our nation’s journey towards justice, freedom and equality”.
“In the face of discrimination and oppression”, she said “these women – our leaders – demonstrated courage; in the face of exclusion they asserted their dignity; in the face of injustice they found their collective voice”.
Banking on Women Colloquium with Women’s Development Bank–Trust
On 21 August, the CWGS will co-host the Banking on Women Colloquium with the Women’s Development Bank–Trust (WDB). This colloquium brings together scholars, activists and analysts across economics, development, sociology and more, alongside feminist collectives and businesswomen to consider the kinds of thinking, models and possibilities that emerge through an African-feminist understanding of the economy.
For 35 years, WDB has prioritised rural development and women’s economic participation and access – presenting a meaningful and practical model of feminist economic work through their microfinancing, rural development initiatives and Pan African training academies.
The colloquium celebrates this work, while honouring Mam’ Zanele Mbeki’s pioneering, dedicated and visionary feminist work. In this vein, the colloquium considers “Banking On Women” as a metaphor and a possible alternative economic framework – defining it as meaningfully investing in, trusting, supporting and sustaining women’s economic initiatives in building resilient and sustainable communities. The title of the Colloquium, Banking on Women, is also part of the slogan of the WDB-Trust.
The colloquium features a distinguished list of speakers that includes Prof Sibongile Muthwa, Mrs Zanele Mbeki, Mrs Riah Phiyega, Dr Judy Dlamini, Dr Futhi Mtoba, Dr Lebohang Liepollo Pheko, Prof Andre, Keet, Prof Michele Ruiters, Prof Edith Phaswana, Nana Magomola, Nombuso Mathibela, Safia Khan, Busi Sibeko, Crystal Simeoni and Isabella Matambanadzo, among others.
As we conclude Women's Month, the University looks forward to co-hosting the colloquium with the WDB-Trust. The CWGS hopes that it will offer a platform for engagements on the varied and substantive freedoms that were imagined by the women of 1956.
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RSVP to attend the colloquium or email Danielle Bowler for more information.
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More information on the WDBT’s work