‘Women don’t need another promise’: opposition slam Ramaphosa’s GBV plan - TimesLIVE
Opposition parties have criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address on gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) after the discovery of women’s bodies in Ekurhuleni and surrounding areas.
Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Tuesday, announcing an emergency response and a four-point plan to combat GBVF. Acknowledging the government has failed to adequately protect women, he outlined new interventions, including municipal safety audits and a national recovery operation for unresolved sexual offences.
His address came as the body count of women found killed keeps increasing after the body of a woman was found in Springs on Sunday, the 11th discovery in the area since July.
The DA demanded immediate action, not promises.
“Women don’t need another promise,” said DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis. “They need to be safe. Enough announcements. It’s time for consequences for those who rape, abuse and murder women.”
Hill-Lewis said Ramaphosa has declared emergency responses for years without tangible progress, highlighting a persistent gap between government announcements and the daily reality women face in their communities.
“Another announcement must therefore be judged by implementation, not empty promises,” Hill-Lewis said.
He said under a DA-led government, the focus would shift directly toward detection, arrests and successful prosecutions. “Those who rape, abuse, and murder women must know the state will pursue them, put them before a court, and put them in jail.”
The EFF labelled Ramaphosa’s address “yet another belated intervention” from a government that has long understood the crisis but consistently failed to act.
“The state has extensive information on where violent crime occurs, the circumstances under which women are most vulnerable, the communities experiencing persistent violence, and the institutional weaknesses that prevent perpetrators from being brought to justice,” the party said.
“South Africa does not suffer from an absence of information about GBVF; it suffers from a failure of political will, institutional capacity and accountability.”
The EFF insisted the new plan be judged against past performance, urging the administration to account for why so many cases remain unsolved.
“Despite previous interventions, violence has continued at an unacceptable scale. The government cannot continue responding to every major incident by announcing another structure, another audit, or another review without accounting for the failure of existing ones.”
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba described the address as “a little too late”, leaving women and children dangerously exposed.
“Frustratingly, when violence against women and children is committed and reported, our criminal justice system too often fails the \victims it is meant to protect,” Mashaba said.
He raised concerns regarding the severe lack of resources at police stations and inadequate victim support services, warning Ramaphosa’s new plan will yield few results unless systemic flaws are fixed.
“Until government addresses the institutional failures that allow cases to be lost, investigations to stall, and victims to be failed, South African women and children will remain vulnerable to the initial act of violence and the secondary trauma inflicted by a failing system.”
ATM Joburg mayoral candidate Vuyo Zungula demanded a concrete framework to ensure the newly announced measures are enforced.
“South Africans need a clear implementation framework with identified budgets, responsible institutions, deadlines, measurable targets and regular public reporting,” Zungula said.
“The government must account for the money already allocated to GBVF before asking the public to accept another set of promises. It must demonstrate what has worked, what has failed, where resources have been lost or under utilised, and what corrective action will now be taken.”
