Siya Kolisi calls on Mzansi to wear purple this Friday in support of the GBVF campaign

Springboks captain, Siya Kolisi, recently urged fans to wear purple on Friday, November 21, in support of the nationwide shutdown in protest against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa.

On a trending video posted by @QuilterNations on X, Kolisi shared that instead of wearing the usual green in support of the Springboks team, fans should rather wear purple to show support.

“And to the people at home, thank you for supporting us and wearing green every Friday. I know we have a big femicide in our country with gender-based violence.

“Next week Friday, you know women are in trouble and kids are in trouble and next week Friday - everybody normally wears green, but now I think we can change for purple. 

“Purple next week Friday to stand with our women,” Kolisi shared.

The Women for Change organisation started a campaign to call for GBVF to be declared a national disaster, and they also started the purple movement for online users to join the campaign.

Since social media is a powerful tool in today’s world, the organisation called on supporters to change their profile pictures to purple in support of the campaign. 

Furthermore, supporters are urged to wear black to symbolise mourning and resistance.

A lot of public figures have also joined the movement by changing their profile pictures, while some of them have urged netizens to sign the petition to declare GBVF a national disaster.

We have seen Bonang Matheba, Mia le Roux, Grace Mondlana, Natasha Vermaak, Zozibini Tunzi-Bolowana, Tyla, and Kolisi as well change their profile pictures to purple.

In addition, the purple movement has gained traction internationally with many content creators from the US, UK, Botswana, Ethiopia and more.

The femicide rate in SA is six times higher than the global average, and in just one year, statistics have shown an increase of 33.8% rate in femicide.

While the statistics are alarming, South Africa’s National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) declined the petition submitted by Women for Change to declare GBVF a national disaster.

Just recently, the Women for Change revealed that the petition has now reached over 1 million signatures and counting in support of the campaign and movement.