CAPE TOWN, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The South African government on Tuesday declared September 8 as the Day of Prayer for women who were murdered in the latest spate of gender-based violence.
A moment of silence will be observed on the day in honor of women who were killed in South Africa recently, said Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
Nkoana-Mashabane, along with Ronald Lamola, minister of Justice and Correctional Services, made the announcement at a press briefing in Cape Town amid a public outcry over the murders of several women in the past month.
The victims include University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana and South African boxing champion Leighandre Jegels. Mrwetyana was murdered by her boy friend, a police employee, while Jegels was murdered by a stranger.
In another incident, 14-year-old Janika Mallo was found dead in her grandmother's back yard in Cape Town after being raped and murdered.
All the murders happened in August as South Africans celebrated the Women's Month dedicated to the protection of women.
The attacks on women represented a lack of respect and failure to recognize the inherent equality and dignity of women, Nkoana-Mashabane said.
The Day of Prayer will be used as a day of reflection and as an appeal to people from all walks of life and to different religious organizations to "get together and make sure that this indeed comes to an end," she said.
Also on Tuesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa lamented that South African women are living in fear as gender-based violence continues unabated.
This is a very dark period for South Africa, Ramaphosa said, adding that the assaults, rapes and murders of women "are a stain on our national conscience."
Meanwhile, the African National Congress Women's League accused the government of being "lukewarm" in dealing with issues of violence against women and children.
The organization urged the state to enforce harsher punishment such as life sentence for perpetrators of gender-based violence.
South Africa has been gripped by rising gender-based violence over the past few years.
Official statistics show that last year alone, almost 40,000 people were raped in South Africa with the overwhelming majority being women. That's 109 people raped per day, and those are only the victims who decide to report the crime.
