A patrol group led by men in Soweto, South Africa’s largest township, is fighting gender-based violence using their colorful vuvuzela trumpets to protect women from crime and harassment while safely escorting them to public transport.
In a country where, according to the World Health Organization, 3,000 women were murdered in 2018 – five times higher than the global average – the thousands of patrollers across Soweto volunteer in groups to help keep women out of harm’s way.
The women schedule pickup times, as early as 2.30am, with the patrollers, who blow their vuvuzelas upon their arrival to ensure the women that they can go outside of their homes and be in safe hands.
“These patrollers, we love them!” says Jane Chabangu of The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. “When I hear the vuvuzela, I think, ‘here comes safety’. And they do it for free.”
