Early and prominent intersex activists include Sally Gross and Nthabiseng Mokoena.

In December 2017, African intersex activists published a statement setting out local demands.

[10] In 2016, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issued recommendations to guarantee bodily integrity and self-determination of intersex and other children, and ensure sanctions on perpetrators of harmful practices.

Prominent South African civic leaders, commentators, politicians, and activists characterised the controversy as racist, as well as an affront to Semenya's privacy and human rights.

On 1 December 2005, in the case of Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie, the Constitutional Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the state to deny to same-sex couples the ability to marry, and gave Parliament one year in which to rectify the situation.