The Soul City Institute for Social Justice welcomes President Cyril Ramaphosa’s remarks on femicide in South Africa.
South Africa has one of the highest per capita rates of women being killed by their partners according to the statistics provided by the South African Medical Research Council.
Our extremely high rates of gender based violence, which includes rape, assault and intimate partner violence, should scar the conscience of every South African. The acknowledgment from President Ramaphosa is important and long overdue. More importantly, it should be seen as a signal that the South African government, working in partnership with the gender based violence sector, will engage seriously with the root causes of violence against women and improve government accountability on these issues.
President Ramaphosa should put in place measures to ensure that the various arms of government implements concrete, actionable steps that will rapidly reduce and eventually eliminate femicide altogether in South Africa.
This includes the enforcement of existing law to protect and defend the rights of survivors of gender based violence. We need to ensure that the existing policies and laws already in place are actually implemented in ways that prevent secondary victimization and reduces impunity.
Effective administration within the current criminal justice system should ensure that perpetrators, in line with the prescribed sentencing guidelines, and survivors of gender based violence, are enabled to engage with the police and courts in order to ensure that their rights are protected.