Ramaphosa vows ‘all stops’ to protect women amid Ekurhuleni killings - IOL

President Cyril Ramaphosa says GBV must be treated as a national crisis, warning that women should never live in fear of men and deserve protection.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says government must take responsibility for protecting women from gender-based violence, as police investigate the deaths of nine women whose bodies have been discovered across Ekurhuleni over the past two months.

“Government is there to protect the people of South Africa, plain and simple. So when things like these happen, government should take responsibility,” Ramaphosa said. 

Ramaphosa was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the ANC Veterans League fundraising golf day at the Johannesburg Country Club in Woodmead on Monday, following a series of killings that has raised fresh concerns about the safety of women.

The three suspects - a man and two women, were arrested over the weekend by the Gauteng Murder and Robbery Unit in connection with the murder of Jabulile Ntimba, whose body was found in Dawn Park on Thursday. 

The woman, believed to be about 30, was found partially clothed in an open area on Lama Street in Villa Lisa. Police said she had suffered a fatal throat injury.

The three suspects are expected to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

The woman was the ninth victim in a series of murder cases being investigated by police following the discovery of nine bodies in the Kempton Park and Ekurhuleni areas over a two-month period.

Police are also investigating whether the nine deaths are connected. However, Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has cautioned that investigators have not established that the cases are the work of a serial killer, saying the investigations have indicated different possible motives and methods.

The developments have prompted increased police deployments in affected parts of Ekurhuleni, while a multidisciplinary team has been strengthened to investigate the deaths.

Ramaphosa was asked whether the government’s initiatives to address GBV were failing women.

He said government could not distance itself from its responsibility to protect women, even when violence occurred in the privacy of people’s homes.

“Even if at times gender-based violence happens in the privacy of people's homes, people of South Africa expect their government to protect them. So we will never run away from that responsibility. It is our duty,” he said.

“The women of South Africa deserve to be protected by their government. They deserve to walk in streets at any time of the day and feel safe. And when they don't feel safe, government must take responsibility. And government must act, it must do something,” Ramaphosa said.

He said the deaths, rape and abuse of women required government to take concrete steps to protect them.

“That is a given, as far as I'm concerned. And I don't want anyone in government to even make any excuse. The death of women, the raping of women, the abuse of women is something that we as government must say we are going to take steps to protect the women of our country,” he said.

Ramaphosa said government would strengthen its response to GBV by deploying more resources and technology.

“We will be pulling out all stops to find these perpetrators,” he said.

He said government would deploy “more money, more resources, more technology” to address the fear women were experiencing.

An inter-ministerial committee would also develop a number of initiatives in response to the crisis, Ramaphosa said.

“We are taking this very seriously,” he said.

The president said the responsibility for addressing GBV also extended beyond government, with men needing to change how they viewed and treated women.

“The women of our country, broadly and countrywide, the women of South Africa should never have to live in fear of men. And that is precisely what we're now going to be addressing more forcefully.

''That men should never regard women as their playground, as people or citizens that they should harm or even kill,” he said.

He said men should respect and honour women and should never regard them as people they could harm or kill.

“The women of our country are the builders of the nation. They carry this nation on their shoulders. Now to abuse them and to even kill them is a real blight against all of us,” he said.

“Gender-based violence is not only a problem for women, it's a national crisis. And we need to be treating it with exactly that,” he said.

Ramaphosa said the government’s response would not be without shortcomings, acknowledging that there could be missteps and areas where there had been neglect.

''The commitment is there and it is fierce and it is forceful,” he said.

“I have always spoken against gender-based violence throughout the years and will continue spreading the message that as a government of South Africa, we are committed to protecting women,” Ramaphosa said.

He said government was committed to ensuring women’s safety and would continue taking steps to protect them.