Violence against women in South Africa is national shame, president says

A forensic investigator near a cordoned-off crime scene where the body of one of 11 women killed was found in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, in South Africa on Sept 15.

JOHANNESBURG – Violence against women in South Africa is a national shame, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, after another woman’s corpse was found dumped over the weekend.

Eleven women’s bodies have been found in Ekurhuleni, a municipality east of Johannesburg, since July, reigniting public anger and fear after repeated government pledges have failed to curb gender-based violence.

The victims are mostly aged in their 20s or 30s, and some have been found stripped and showing signs of sexual violence.

“There are women lying tonight in government mortuaries waiting to be identified, waiting for someone to claim them, waiting to be taken home and laid to rest. How can our hearts not be broken? How can we not be angry?” Ramaphosa said in a televised address late on Sept 29.

“The violence inflicted upon the women of South Africa is a source of profound pain and national shame. The nation is angry. The women of South Africa are angry.”

Ramaphosa said police had not found evidence that a serial killer was behind the 11 women’s deaths but said all possibilities were still under investigation.

He said arrests had been made in connection with three of the killings and reiterated that investigations into all of the deaths would not be allowed to go cold.

South Africa has one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the world, but policing is weakened by corruption and a lack of resources. Only about one in 10 murders is solved. REUTERS