Action Society says President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement of new measures against gender-based violence (GBV) repeats problems that according to the organisation have existed for years.
Ramaphosa said on Tuesday evening in his address on the murders of women in Ekurhuleni that the government's efforts to combat GBV and femicide "were not enough". He among other things ordered that unsolved murder, rape and serious sexual offence cases be reviewed within 60 days, with recovery plans for cases that have stalled. Action Society however says a new review or plan does not necessarily mean cases will lead to arrests and prosecutions.
Juanita du Preez, national spokesperson for Action Society, says the president himself referred to protection orders that do not always protect, forensic samples that remain unprocessed and cases that collapse due to poor investigations or missing files.
The organisation is asking that the extent of the forensic backlog be made public, that critical vacancies be filled and that the government indicate how many cases are actually progressing. Action Society also asked why the national register for sex offenders was not mentioned in the address and says regular crime statistics on women and children are needed to measure the extent of the problem and any progress.
Du Preez says Action Society will hold the government to the announced 60- and 90-day deadlines and asks that there be public reporting on which cases have progressed and how protection orders and forensic evidence are handled.
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This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
