[imagesource: Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images via Getty Images]

I know it’s the end of the week, and you probably don’t feel like getting too serious, but there’s no escaping the fact that South Africa has an out of control femicide crisis.

It’s one that there is no vaccination for, and even staying at home doesn’t guarantee safety.

Based on the crime stats for 2017/18, a woman is murdered in South Africa every three hours, and in around half of those murders, the victims were murdered by men with whom they had a close relationship.

So I’ve warned you that this is depressing, and you’re still here, so on we forge.

VICE recently put together this video, which uses the murder of two friends, Popi Qwabe (24) and Bongeka Phungula (28), to illustrate just how dire the situation is:

On the 12 May 2017, the two young women got into a taxi in Soweto, heading for a night out. Three days later, their bodies were found on the side of a road. Two men were arrested in connection with the murders but were released due to a lack of evidence.

In this film, we hear from the families of Popi and Bongeka, who believe that the police investigation was full of mistakes because of corruption and lack of will.

We also hear from representatives of Amnesty International, who are campaigning to bring an end to gender based violence in South Africa, and to get justice in the case of Popi and Bongeka.

That Amnesty International petition can be found here, and the VICE video below:

[source:vice]