Simamkele Dlakavu was on her way to hear the results of South Africa’s local elections when she saw on Twitter that the president, Jacob Zuma, was to address the ceremony.

“I don’t know how to feel about this,” she thought. Like many South African women, Dlakavu believes Zuma escaped justice when he was acquitted of raping a family friend, aided by a legal system that regularly fails women subjected to sexual violence.

She remembered a recent demonstration outside the South Gauteng high court, marking 10 years since Zuma’s acquittal; a demonstration that garnered little attention.

That night the young woman would hold another protest that couldn’t be ignored.

Dlakavu and her friend Tinyiko Shikwambane decided to disrupt Zuma’s speech with a demonstration in support of Khwezi, the pseudonym given to the woman who accused Zuma of rape.

“Khwezi is all of us. She is a representative of all of us. She [represents] a failure of the justice system,” said Dlakavu, sitting with Shikwambane on a balcony in Braamfontein after their eventful weekend.

The pair arrived at the election centre in Pretoria while staff were preparing the stage for the official ceremony, to announce the ANC’s poorest election performance since the country’s first democratic election in 1994.

They spoke to other women, subtly gauging whether they might join in. “Do you remember the Zuma rape trial? Do you remember Khwezi?” they asked. They approached women from varied political affiliations, but struggled to recruit anyone without giving too much away or alerting the organisers.

They phoned another friend, Naledi Chirwa, who was on her way to the event with Amanda Mavuso, and agreed that the four of them would stage a protest. They are adamant that the demonstration was only planned in the hours before Zuma’s address, and that it was a coincidence that they were all wearing dark clothes.

“It was an act of divine intervention,” said Dlakavu.

“It was the ancestors,” added Shikwambane.

The four women were experienced activists, having taken part inSouth African protests such as the student #FeesMustFall campaign, and had seen the effectiveness of demonstrations against sexual violence, including those against Bill Cosby in the United States.

“This is another black feminist protest strategy – of silence,” said Dlakavu. They said the intention was to pierce the silence around rape through a silent protest.

At the election centre, they asked event organisers for a marker pen and paper to draw their placards.

The four have varied academic backgrounds, with degrees in in African literature, law and public administration and governance between them, but it was Chirwa, a drama student, who came up with the slogans:

• Remember Khwezi – the pseudonym given to the woman who reported being raped by Zuma
• Khanga – a sarong or wrap worn by women. Zuma had told the court that the fact the womam was wearing a khanga suggested she wanted to have sex with him
• I am 1 in 3 – a reference to the number of South African women subject to sexual violence
• 10 years later – the time since Zuma’s aquittal on rape charges

Expecting to be manhandled by security officers, they left their bags with a male friend also attending the gathering, but did not tell him what they were up to.

Dlakavu has worked in the media and knew they could get close to the stage if they stood with the journalists at the front of the hall.

“We all sat there with our hearts pounding,” she said. The electoral commission chair Glen Mashinini read the results, province by province, metro by metro. Zuma was welcomed to the podium.

“And then we walked to the stage and sat there,” said Dlakavu. “And then we just stood there.”

Facing the crowd, Dlakavu, Chirwa, Shikwambane and Mavuso held their signs in front of the president throughout his speech, which lasted more than seven minutes.

“We didn’t think [what might happen next],” said Dlakavu. “We are women and no one’s going to ask us to leave nicely,” added Shikwambane. “I thought we were going to be removed during the speech but it had to happen.”

They tried to focus on friendly faces in the crowd. Dlakavu, who was shaking, was worried about whether people could read her sign.

“Arms, behave and hold this thing right,” she told herself.

Shikwambane wondered about whether parts of her body were showing. Should she fix her dress, her cleavage – “all those micro things women think about”.

Zuma’s speech was lost in the intensity of the silent protest, but he had at least one listener: Shikwambane. The president said the elections had proved that South Africa is a thriving democracy where differences of political opinion and diverse political preferences could flourish.

“Then I thought about laughing,” said Shikwambane. “Actually, he gave us legitimacy during his speech.”

“It worked like a beautiful theatre piece where everything worked together. The fear died once the cameras started flashing,” added Dlakavu.

Zuma returned to his seat and for the first time had an opportunity to see what the protest was about.

“Remember Khwezi,” said Dlakavu measuredly as the president’s security team herded him past the four women.

They were pushed over by the guards. Zuma sat, chuckled for a moment, and watched as the protesters were taken behind a curtain by presidential security and brought to the restricted VIP entrance.

A woman’s cry could be heard from behind the curtain as journalists were prevented from following the protesters. It came from Chirwa, who fell as she was removed.

“The aggression was terrifying,” remembered Shikwambane.

Dlakavu: “Just the presence of that many of them against four girls. I was like, ‘Don’t kill us,’ because they were so angry.”

But the security officers eventually released them and they were able to get away.

As the protest was taking place, female ANC ministers Lindiwe Zulu, Nomvula Mokonyane and Bathabile Dlamini tried to have security remove the activists.

Dlamini accused the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) of trying to embarrass the president and South Africa.

“We categorically deny the EFF organised this or the EFF were aware of this,” said Dlakavu. The four protesters, who all support the EFF, said it was insulting to suggest that they needed a political party to organise the protest.

“We are flattered at how conspiring and how cunning everyone thought we could be,” said Shikwambane.

Dlakuvu added: “It’s a cop-out for the ANC to do that [accuse the EFF], that’s avoiding the issue.”

The suggestion was particularly ironic given that EFF leader Julius Malema, a former ANC youth leader, had been a staunch support of Zuma during the rape trial, which ruled that Zuma and his accuser had had consensual sex.

“Rape is not a political party issue. Patriarchy is not isolated to one party,” said Dlakavu.