Catholic bishop Sithembele Sipuka says gender-based violence should be called what it is: femicide. And it's action -- not summits or slogans -- that will help bring an end to the endemic abuse and murder of South Africa's women.

Women's Month, August, has come and gone. In August, the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide receives prominent attention. Then it all goes quiet -- unless, of course, another woman is raped or murdered.

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka, the Catholic bishop of Mthatha and president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, warns that fighting this scourge must be seen as "a long agenda for our country because it is endemic, and it will not end just by talking".

"While August was initially meant for the upliftment of women, it has practically turned into a month of bewailing violence against women because of the ever-increasing rate of violation of women and femicide," the bishop wrote in a letter to his diocese in August 2021.

A year later, Bishop Sipuka, reflecting on the continuing horrific crimes committed against women, says we should call gender-based violence what it is: "Women's violent abuse and murder."

He goes on to use more robust language. "I insist...