The Women in Need Organisation, an advocacy group, has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s new four-point plan to tackle gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
During his address to the nation on Tuesday evening, Ramaphosa announced an urgent four-point national strategy aimed at confronting the country’s GBVF crisis.
The strategy seeks to eliminate significant backlogs in the criminal justice system and fast-track government interventions.
Dorothy Mabelebele, founder and chairperson of the Women in Need Organisation, told YOU FM Newshour that the President’s commitment was encouraging.
“We welcome the commitment to prioritise investigations and bring those responsible for the recent horrific killings of women to justice.
“We also appreciate the call for communities to work together to provide information that could lead to the apprehension of the perpetrators of these crimes.
“However, we are concerned about how many women must be killed before the President reacts to the crisis we are facing as a country, because at the initial GBVF Summit, different pillars were adopted to confront this crisis,” said Mabelebele.
She also raised concerns about the uncertainty surrounding the government’s funding plans to address the challenge.
“We are particularly concerned because, during the initial GBVF Summit, funding was allocated and the Department of Women, Children, Youth and Persons with Disabilities was entrusted with distributing and overseeing how the funding was spent, unlike now with the involvement of the Minister of Finance.
“We are not aware of how this funding will be allocated, especially to organisations and shelters that provide day-to-day support and care for victims of GBVF,” Mabelebele said.
During his address, the President directed several members of his Cabinet, as well as local municipalities, to work together to address the GBVF crisis.
“I have directed the Minister of Police and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, working with the South African Police Service and, with due regard to prosecutorial independence, the National Prosecuting Authority, to undertake a national case-recovery operation focused on unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual offences involving women and children,” Ramaphosa said.
The President also directed all municipalities to immediately begin conducting women’s safety audits to identify high-risk areas in collaboration with provincial governments and the police.
“Within 60 days, these audits must identify broken streetlights, overgrown public spaces, abandoned buildings, unsafe transport routes and facilities, poorly secured parks and other conditions that place women at risk,” Ramaphosa instructed.
Ramaphosa also urged provincial and municipal authorities to intensify the enforcement of existing liquor laws and by-laws, particularly against unlicensed outlets and establishments that operate outside permitted trading hours.
