Kempton Park killings expose SA’s violence crisis - IOL

Eight women found dead in Kempton Park have once again forced South Africa to confront its culture of violence, the safety of women and the urgent need for more effective policing.

The discovery of dead women in Kempton Park is yet another grim reminder of how violence, not only against women, but in society generally, has become normalised in South Africa.

The police’s caution to women, particularly joggers, to remain vigilant when alone was met with anger from many who wanted authorities to update the nation on their plans to apprehend the killer or killers.

That anger is understandable. However, the police are not wrong to remind people that South Africa remains a violent country where everyone should exercise caution. High-profile cases of murdered women have repeatedly demonstrated that women can be attacked almost anywhere, by intimate partners at home, strangers in public, colleagues at work and, in some cases, even people entrusted with protecting them.

The number of women found dead in Kempton Park, eight at the last count, has understandably prompted renewed calls for the death penalty. The anger is valid, but a knee-jerk response will not address the underlying conditions that allow violent criminals to operate.

What needs urgent attention is crime prevention and the quality of investigations, so that perpetrators are identified, arrested, successfully prosecuted and sentenced. Criminals are emboldened when they believe they can commit crimes without being caught.

The Kempton Park deaths have also provided an opportunity for xenophobes to blame undocumented migrants, despite the perpetrators’ nationalities not yet being established. Such speculation is dangerous and distracts from the urgent task of finding those responsible.

Police have also been careful not to prematurely characterise the killings as the work of a serial killer.

We can only hope the murders are solved swiftly and those responsible are brought to justice. In the meantime, remaining vigilant and cautious is not wrong.

But men must also confront the reality that violence against women remains a devastating problem. Changing the attitudes that enable men to view violence as an acceptable response must be part of the solution.

The reported involvement of an intimate partner in the first murder is a reminder that the threat can also come from someone known to the victim.