In South Africa, the most dangerous place for a woman is often her home. The statistics around gender-based violence speak loudly, but they still don’t tell the full story.
They don’t tell you about Gaby, who went for a walk in her neighbourhood on 26 May 2023 and never came home. Her mother and sister, Ntombi and Whitney, immediately knew something was wrong but couldn’t convince the police to take her disappearance seriously. Gaby’s body was found seven days later, just meters from the home where her family had been praying for her return.
They don’t tell you about Anna, whose ex-boyfriend assaulted her in 2020, igniting a years-long journey of courtrooms, activism, and healing. Or Ashmita, who survived two violations; one by a stranger, the other by a man who used her trauma against her. They don’t mention Merlize, who endured 14 years of marriage marked by violence, only to discover that leaving did not mean safety, and that post-separation abuse could be even more terrifying.
These are not isolated incidents. They are the architecture of a system where women’s safety is still seen as optional, and AMAZI and Women For Change refuse to accept optional safety as the norm.
Safety Is the Ground Everything Else Stands On
For years, AMAZI has worked to change women’s lives through beauty.
Through its Academy, it has trained previously unemployed women in beauty treatments, self-development, and job readiness. These women go on to work at AMAZI Beauty Bars not just to earn an income, but to reclaim their independence.
But what happens when a woman has the skills, ambition, and opportunity yet danger still finds her on the street, in public spaces, or behind closed doors? You cannot empower a woman in a world where her life is at risk.
That’s why AMAZI has partnered with Women For Change, one of South Africa’s leading GBV advocacy organisations, to launch the Safety is Power campaign. The campaign is about more than raising funds. It’s about saying their names, hearing their stories, and committing, as a country and as a community, to never looking away again.
A Beauty Purchase That Funds Safety
Until 31 October 2025, AMAZI is donating R10 from every product sold to fund Women For Change’s digital emergency response platform. This platform is a critical lifeline that connects survivors of gender-based violence to trauma counselling, legal assistance, and crisis support in real time. The goal is to raise R500,000 to support 10,000 women with immediate access to help, healing, and hope.
“Safety is Power” is a reckoning and a refusal to try to build empowerment on a foundation of fear. It is the legacy of women like Gaby, Ntombi, Whitney, Anna, Ashmita, Merliza, and millions of other women around South Africa and the world—women who should never have had to survive what they did, but whose voices now demand that we rise for every woman still fighting to be safe.
To support Safety is Power, visit any AMAZI Beauty Bar or shop online. For those wanting to go further, additional contributions can be made through the dedicated campaign page.
