President Ramaphosa orders urgent action on gender-based violence - TimesLIVE

President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered a national recovery operation targeting unresolved murders, rapes and serious sexual offences involving women and children as he unveiled a series of urgent interventions to tackle gender-based violence and femicide.

Addressing the nation on Tuesday night, Ramaphosa said government had failed to do enough to protect women and that institutions and programmes meant little if they did not work when a woman needed them.

“What we have done has not been enough. We need to do much more than what we have done,” he said.

His announcement comes amid mounting concern about the discovery of the bodies of 11 women in Ekurhuleni since July.

People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) executive director Fatima Shaik said the four immediate measures could make a difference if properly implemented, while warning that implementation, coordination and accountability remained key.

“The four immediate measures are important, and if properly implemented, they can make a difference. But South Africa’s problem has never been a shortage of plans or commitments. Our problem has always been implementation, coordination and accountability,” Shaik said.

She welcomed the focus on unresolved GBV cases, the forensic backlog, safer public spaces and stronger enforcement, as well as the timelines attached to the measures.

“These are practical interventions. And the fact that government has attached a 30, 60 and 90 day timeline gives us something concrete against which to measure progress,” she said.

Police and forensic interventions are critical, but we can’t only focus on those things. We also have to focus on women after they have been raped or murdered, and prevention and support for women who are still alive and trying to escape their situation.

“Women cannot continue to measure government’s response by announcements. We have to measure it by where the cases are moved, perpetrators are held accountable, dangerous spaces become safer and survivors can actually access services,” she said.

Shaik said she would have liked to hear more about strengthening and funding frontline services, including shelters, counselling, psychosocial support, legal assistance and community-based organisations.

“Police and forensic interventions are critical, but we can’t only focus on those things. We also have to focus on women after they have been raped or murdered, and prevention and support for women who are still alive and trying to escape their situation,” she said.

Commission for Gender Equality spokesperson Javu Baloyi said the commission was cautiously optimistic about the measures.

“Having listened to the president and read his speech, we are cautiously optimistic that these measures will work. As a commission, we will carry out our oversight role and monitor and evaluate their implementation,” Baloyi said.

Ramaphosa said the Ekurhuleni killings were receiving attention at the highest levels of government and law enforcement, with a specialised multidisciplinary investigation elevated to national level.

The investigation brings together detectives, crime intelligence, forensic specialists, investigative psychologists and digital investigators. Several arrests have already been made.

Police have identified people of interest and collected forensic material including DNA, blood samples, clothing, cellphones and cellphone records, while the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is assisting with the digital forensic investigation.

Ramaphosa said police had not found evidence that the killings were the work of a single perpetrator.

“At present, the police have not found evidence establishing that these killings were committed by a single perpetrator. All possibilities remain under investigation,” he said.

The interventions extended beyond the Ekurhuleni investigation.

The first is a national case recovery operation focused on unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual offences involving women and children.

The second intervention targets the country’s forensic backlog.

The police minister, national police commissioner and relevant forensic authorities must produce a funded plan within 60 days to reduce the backlog and establish turnaround standards for priority GBV and femicide cases.

Cases involving the rape or murder of women and children must be prioritised, with progress reported publicly every quarter.

The third intervention will put municipalities under pressure to identify and fix places where women are at risk.

Every municipality must conduct a women’s safety audit covering high-risk areas such as broken streetlights, overgrown public spaces, abandoned buildings, unsafe transport routes, poorly secured parks and cemeteries.

Within 60 days, these hazards must be identified. Within 90 days, the most urgent risks must either be fixed or included in a funded implementation plan with completion dates.

The results will be published so communities can see what has been identified, fixed and remains outstanding.

Ramaphosa also ordered provincial and municipal authorities to intensify enforcement of existing liquor laws and bylaws, particularly against outlets operating without licences or outside permitted trading hours.

His fourth intervention focuses on alcohol-related violence.

The trade, industry and competition minister, working with the health, social development, police and cooperative governance ministers, must submit a coordinated legislative and enforcement package to Cabinet within 60 days, he said.

Ramaphosa stressed that alcohol does not cause gender-based violence and cannot excuse it, but said harmful alcohol use was a significant aggravating factor in interpersonal violence.

The president said government was also strengthening the wider criminal justice and survivor-support system.

Resources have been allocated to the family violence, child protection and sexual offences units, while additional resources are expected in the medium-term budget policy statement.

Sexual offences courts are being expanded and more Thuthuzela Care Centres are to be built. The processing of DNA and other forensic evidence is also being strengthened.

The law has been tightened to make it harder for perpetrators of GBV and domestic abuse to obtain bail, while police stations have established victim-friendly services and GBV desks. Police training on gender-based violence will also be strengthened.

But Ramaphosa said the measures would ultimately be judged by whether they worked for women seeking help.

“A woman who summons the courage to report abuse must not be turned away from a police station,” he said.

“A woman seeking a protection order must not be sent from office to office.”

He said a protection order could not simply become “a piece of paper” while an abuser continued to threaten his victim.

“A forensic sample must not sit unprocessed while a perpetrator remains free,” he said.

The Interministerial Committee on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide and the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide will monitor the measures, with a first consolidated progress report due within 90 days, followed by quarterly public reports.

“These directives are not just a statement of good intentions,” Ramaphosa said. “They establish responsibilities, deadlines, and a duty to submit reports on a regular basis to the nation.”

He also appealed to the public to report missing people immediately, stressing there was no requirement to wait 24 hours.

“Hours matter. Information matters. A photograph matters. A vehicle registration number matters,” he said.

Ramaphosa said government could not simply arrest its way out of the crisis.

“We cannot police our way out of gender-based violence alone. We cannot arrest our way out of this crisis alone,” he said. “And we cannot wait until a woman is murdered before the state intervenes.”

He said the focus had to shift towards preventing violence before it happened.