Paper long abstract:

This article illustrates the social experiences of de-politicizing and re-politicizing processes in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide in the feminist civil society space in Cape Town, South Africa. I aim to add to the well-known critique of the de-politicization of the gendered international development agenda, by illustrating that alongside de-politicizing processes, also forces of re-politicization are at play. The fight against gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa is not picked up by developmental organizations alone; South Africa also has a rich culture of feminist activism. I argue that with the emerge of an new autonomous feminist movement in 2018, The Total Shutdown, the de-politicization and re-politicization of gender-based violence happens simultaneously. Individuals move between different spaces of resistance to renegotiate their feminist ideological standpoints to challenge and disrupt post-Apartheid (non-)actions in tackling the high rates of rape and femicide in the country. This research shows that the boundary between NGO benefactors and activists is a blurry one; both groups move between spaces to create the counter-narratives and the counter-identifications they can identify with, to achieve their feminist goals to end femicide in South Africa and to reclaim personal feelings of (women) empowerment.

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