Gender-Based Violence Triggers Emergency Response
Gender-based violence has prompted a new national emergency response in South Africa after the bodies of 12 women were discovered in an area east of Johannesburg within two months.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the measures on Tuesday as public concern grew over the deaths and the wider problem of violence against women in the country. South Africa has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world.
Four people have been arrested in connection with the deaths. However, authorities have not established that the women were killed by one person, despite fears that the discovery of the bodies in close proximity could point to a single perpetrator.
“There has understandably been widespread fear that the discovery of these women in close proximity could indicate the work of a single perpetrator,” Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation. “At present, the police have not found evidence establishing that these killings were committed by a single perpetrator.”
Cyril Ramaphosa Announces Women’s Safety Audits
Ramaphosa said the government had not done enough in recent years to protect women and girls from gender-based violence. He announced a series of measures intended to strengthen prevention efforts and improve safety in communities.
Under the new approach, every municipality will be required to begin a women’s safety audit without delay. The assessments are expected to identify locations and conditions that could put women at greater risk.
“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 said.
The announcement places greater emphasis on identifying environmental risks alongside policing and legislation. The government also plans an enforcement package aimed at reducing alcohol-related violence.
South Africa Targets Alcohol-Related Violence
Ramaphosa stressed that alcohol cannot be treated as an explanation or excuse for gender-based violence, saying responsibility remains with the person who commits the offence.
“Alcohol does not cause gender-based violence and it can never excuse it. Responsibility always lies with the perpetrator,” he said.
He added that harmful alcohol use remains an important factor that can worsen interpersonal violence and should therefore be addressed as part of wider prevention measures.
The president also said the response to South Africa violence against women must extend beyond police action and changes to the law. He argued that preventing violence requires addressing attitudes and behaviour before physical violence occurs.
“It does not begin when a fist is raised” or when a woman is raped or murdered, he said. “It begins much earlier.”
Call for Men and Boys to Help End Violence
Ramaphosa linked violence against women and girls to attitudes that treat women as inferior or allow men to believe they have a right to control women. He also pointed to jealousy, coercion and controlling behaviour as issues that can contribute to violence.
“It begins when jealousy is mistaken for love, when control is mistaken for protection and coercion is mistaken for affection,” he said.
“It begins when a man refuses to accept the word no.”
The president called on men and boys to take a leading role in efforts to end gender-based violence. He said responsibility for addressing male violence should not continue to fall primarily on women.
“We have placed the burden of male violence on women,” Ramaphosa said. “That must change.”
“The solution to violence against women cannot be to make women less free.”
South Africa Records High Murder Levels
The latest concerns come against a backdrop of high levels of violent crime in South Africa. Police figures show that 5,427 people were murdered between April and June this year.
South African police statistics do not distinguish homicide victims by gender. However, the South African Human Rights Commission recently reported that 569 women were killed and another 1,052 survived attempted murder during the same April-to-June period.
The figures have added to concerns about women’s safety and the scale of violence against women and girls. Ramaphosa’s new measures are intended to strengthen prevention, improve safety in high-risk areas and address factors associated with interpersonal violence.