South African President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered a nationwide women’s safety audit after at least 11 women were killed in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, since July. Local authorities must identify dangerous and high-risk areas, including places with broken streetlights, abandoned buildings and poorly secured parks. They have 60 days to complete the audit.
The measures, announced in a televised national address on Tuesday, September 29, also direct police and the National Prosecuting Authority to review unresolved gender-based violence cases within 90 days. The review covers murders, attempted murders, rapes and other gender-based violence cases.
The Government’s Directives
Ramaphosa said authorities would fund plans to address hotspots identified by the safety audits, along with backlogs in solving gender-based violence crimes. Local authorities must identify unsafe places and prepare plans to address them. Police and prosecutors have a separate deadline to examine unresolved cases.
The president also assigned a high-level investigating team to probe the Ekurhuleni killings. Four suspects had been arrested, he said. Police had identified persons of interest in some cases and collected forensic material, including DNA, blood samples, clothing, cellphones and cellphone records. Authorities hadn’t confirmed that the killings were linked, and investigators were examining whether a serial killer or killers were responsible.
The killings frightened residents, particularly after someone discovered the body of the 11th victim Sunday. Ekurhuleni remained on high alert as authorities investigated. Forensic investigators appeared in photographs at a site outside Johannesburg where someone found a woman’s body on September 17.
The Scale of Violence
South Africa recorded 5,427 homicides from April to July, according to official crime statistics. UN Women, the United Nations agency for gender equality, says the country’s femicide rate ranks among the world’s highest. A 2022 study by a South African think tank found that more than 35% of South African adult women had experienced physical or sexual violence at some point.
Ramaphosa said most women who experience violence know their attackers and called on men to lead the fight against gender-based violence. He described women changing their routes home, avoiding going out at night and warning one another about dangerous places and men. They’re left adjusting their lives around the threat.
“We have placed the burden of male violence on women,” Ramaphosa said. He also said: “This cannot be accepted as a normal part of life in South Africa. We must confront an uncomfortable truth. What we have done has not been enough.” It’s a blunt assessment.
Audits and Unresolved Cases
The announced response depends on local authorities mapping dangerous areas and police and prosecutors reviewing open cases. Officials must follow the audit’s findings with funded plans, while the case review aims to address backlogs in solving gender-based violence crimes. The measures don’t confirm that the Ekurhuleni deaths are connected; police hadn’t established that link.
The immediate official deadlines are 60 days to complete the safety audit and 90 days for police and the National Prosecuting Authority to review cases. Ramaphosa’s address followed the killings and discovery of the 11th victim’s body, as residents remained frightened and Ekurhuleni stayed on high alert.