JOHANNESBURG — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday announced a nationwide effort to address high-risk areas following the discovery of 12 women's bodies east of Johannesburg over a two-month period. The deaths sparked public anger over violence against women in the country.
Ramaphosa outlined a multidisciplinary national emergency response to the murders. Police have made four arrests in connection with the killings. Ramaphosa acknowledged that South Africa has not done enough to protect women and girls, saying that gender-based violence cannot be accepted as a normal part of life.
Concerns emerged among the public that the proximity of the discoveries could indicate the work of a single perpetrator, Ramaphosa said in a national address. However, police have not found evidence to establish the killings were committed by one individual.
The government said its past efforts to prevent gender-based violence were insufficient. Ramaphosa announced new measures to protect women and girls. These include mandatory women's safety audits for every municipality, to begin immediately.
These audits must pinpoint high-risk areas and conditions. Specific items to identify include broken streetlights, overgrown public spaces, abandoned buildings, poorly secured parks, and unsafe transport routes and facilities that pose risks to women.
Ramaphosa also introduced an enforcement package to reduce violence linked to alcohol use. He clarified that alcohol does not cause gender-based violence and cannot excuse it, emphasizing that responsibility always rests with the perpetrator.
“Harmful alcohol use is a significant aggravating factor in interpersonal violence, and it must be addressed as part of our wider prevention effort,” Ramaphosa said. He called for a deeper societal change, beyond policing and legislation, to reduce violence.
Ramaphosa explained that violence against women begins much earlier than physical acts, stemming from attitudes that regard women as inferior or beliefs that men have a right to control women. He cited instances where jealousy is mistaken for love, control for protection, and coercion for affection, or when a man refuses to accept the word “no.”
Ramaphosa urged men and boys to take the lead in ending gender-based violence. “We have placed the burden of male violence on women,” he said. “That must change.” He concluded that the solution to violence against women cannot be to diminish women's freedom.
South Africa maintains one of the world's highest homicide rates. Between April and June this year, 5,427 people were murdered across the country. The South African Human Rights Commission reported that 569 women were killed and 1,052 others survived attempted murder during the same April to June period, though police statistics do not differentiate victims by gender.
