The global theme this year is 'Orange the world: End violence against women now!'

To follow this theme, Uber says that it will illuminate the app in orange to mark the '16 Days of Activism', with the hope of reaching hundreds of thousands of South Africans who use the Uber App.

"The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is proud to partner with Uber, as we work with governments and advocate for companies and organisations to take lead in eliminating Gender-Based Violence in South Africa," says Tlangelani Shilubane, UNFPA Assistant Representative / OIC.

"We are calling on legislators, journalists, civil society and those with influence to speak out, stand up and take action," adds Shilubane.

"Sexual misconduct and assault know no boundaries and affect all genders and communities around the globe, including the Uber community. Our intention with this partnership is to shine a light on GBV which continues to plague our society and communities around the world," adds Shilubane.

"Uber has long held the position that all women have a right to feel safe, and as such, we remain committed to putting safety at the forefront and empowering riders and drivers every day," says Busisiwe Khaba, head of public policy for Uber sub-Saharan Africa.

"As part of Uber's strategy to include more women drivers, we have rolled out the Women Rider Preferred feature nationally, that provides women drivers with the choice of being connected to women riders. We believe that gender shouldn’t be a barrier to feeling safe while earning a living,” says Khaba.

To help drivers advocate for the voices of women, Uber will continue to offer mandatory sexual misconduct training as part of its driver sign-up process. Currently, 94% of drivers on the Uber App have complied while the remaining 6% are within the window period of completion.

"Our commitment to safety remains strong hence we are always hard at work to improve our features. Some of these include the SOS button on the app and our emergency response team, which is available 24 hours a day," adds Khaba.

"We urge everyone to challenge inequality and violence and hold the government and our communities to account in claiming our basic rights so that we can live lives of dignity, equality and justice because women’s rights are human rights," concludes Shilubane.

For help, counseling on GBV matters, or to report GBV incidents, call the GBV Command Centre on 0800 428 428 (0800 GBV GBV).

For more information, visit www.uber.com