Government departments, police and municipalities have been given firm deadlines to address stalled criminal cases, forensic backlogs and unsafe public spaces as part of a new four-point intervention targeting gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the measures during an address to the nation on Tuesday evening, 29 September, amid raging injustices over the killing of women in and around Ekurhuleni.
The first measure will see a national case-recovery operation focusing on unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual offences involving women and children.
Police, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the National Prosecuting Authority are expected to identify cases that have stalled or faced lengthy delays.
“Within 60 days, this audit must identify the number and age of unresolved cases, cases awaiting forensic evidence, cases in which suspects have been identified but not arrested and cases in which investigative or prosecutorial action has been unreasonably delayed,” the President explained.
Individual recovery plans must then be developed within 90 days for priority and stalled cases, identifying what action remains outstanding, who is responsible and when it must be completed.
The second intervention targets delays in forensic processing.
The police, national commissioner and relevant forensic authorities have been instructed to submit a funded plan within 60 days detailing the extent and age of forensic backlogs, shortages of staff and equipment, resources required and deadlines for reducing outstanding work.
Forensic samples linked to the rape or murder of women and children are expected to receive priority, while progress against turnaround times will be made public quarterly.
Municipalities will also be required to conduct women’s safety audits, bringing the prevention of GBVF into the management of everyday public infrastructure.
Within 60 days, municipalities, working with provincial governments and police, must identify high-risk areas and hazards such as broken streetlights, abandoned buildings, overgrown public spaces, unsafe transport routes and poorly secured parks.
The most urgent problems must either be addressed within 90 days of the audit being completed or placed in funded implementation plans with clear completion dates. The results of the audits and progress made will also be published.
A fourth intervention will focus on alcohol-related violence. Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau, together with several other ministries, has been tasked with presenting Cabinet with a coordinated legislative and enforcement package within 60 days.
“Alcohol does not cause gender-based violence [GBV] and it can never excuse it. Responsibility always lies with the perpetrator. But harmful alcohol use is a significant aggravating factor in interpersonal violence, and it must be addressed as part of our wider prevention effort. Women should not have to live in fear because government has failed to repair a light, clear a public space, process evidence or enforce a law. Every sphere of government must understand that the safety of women is part of its responsibility,” Ramaphosa said.
The measures come as government faces heightened scrutiny over its response to violence against women. Cabinet said this week that 13 women’s bodies had been recovered in Ekurhuleni and surrounding areas since July, while arrests had been made in connection with some of the killings.
Ramaphosa said government’s response would also have to extend beyond policing and prosecution to the attitudes and social norms that enable violence.
He called for greater focus on how boys are taught about anger, rejection, consent and relationships, saying the responsibility for addressing male violence could not continue to be placed primarily on women.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee and National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide will monitor implementation of the measures. The first consolidated progress report is expected within 90 days, followed by public reports every quarter.
The measures are intended to support accelerated implementation of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide across government and society.
“We must prevent the violence before it starts because programmes, stronger laws, additional resources and more police officers will not, on their own, end violence against women.”
Ramaphosa said the country also needed to confront the social attitudes and behaviours that enable violence against women.
“It begins when a man refuses to accept the word no. We must confront the uncomfortable, devastating truth that the primary GBV hotspot is in the home and in interpersonal relationships.”
A national study by the South African Medical Research Council found that more than 60% of women murdered in 2021 and 2022 were killed by an intimate partner.
The President said preventing violence must therefore begin much earlier, including in the way boys are raised.
“It must begin with how we raise our sons; with what boys learn about girls, anger, rejection and consent, and with what they learn from watching the men around them.”
He said society had for too long placed the burden of addressing male violence on women.
“For too long, gender-based violence has been treated as a women’s problem to solve. That must change.”
Ramaphosa added that the constitutional promise of freedom could not be fully realised while women continued to live in fear.
“It is time for good men to stop being silent men. We salute the many South African men who are already speaking out, including prominent figures such as Siya Kolisi and Temba Bavuma, who have used their public platforms to urge men to confront violence against women and to become better men.”
He also acknowledged faith-based organisations, community organisations, women’s and youth formations, educational institutions, traditional leaders and other structures working to confront gender-based violence.
The measures will now be closely watched as government faces pressure to translate its commitments into visible progress in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide.
