Ramaphosa announces four measures on violence against women

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that the government had failed to adequately protect women and announced four measures to strengthen its response to gender-based violence and femicide, following a series of women’s killings in and around Ekurhuleni. Police have not established that the killings were committed by a single perpetrator. In a televised address on Tuesday, September 29, Ramaphosa said the state needed to address failures in policing, protection orders, forensic processing and the handling of cases. He said that police action alone could not prevent gender-based violence and that intervention must come before a woman is killed. The announced measures require police and justice authorities to review unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual offences involving women and children. Priority or stalled cases are to have recovery plans. A separate funded plan is to address forensic backlogs and set turnaround standards for priority cases, with progress reported publicly every quarter. Municipalities are to identify safety risks, including broken streetlights, unsafe public spaces and dangerous transport routes.