South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday night announced a series of new measures against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), adding to ongoing efforts to combat the crisis.
The presidential address follows widespread national outrage after the discovery of 11 women’s bodies across the city of Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, since July.
A specialized multidisciplinary task team, comprising detectives, Crime Intelligence officers, forensic experts, investigative psychologists, and digital investigators, has already been elevated to national level and deployed to investigate cases of femicide, Ramaphosa said, adding that some suspects have been arrested.
The government has also allocated resources to strengthen the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Units, while more resources will be allocated by the minister of finance, and Sexual Offenses Courts are being expanded, he said.
Processing of DNA and forensic evidence is being rebuilt, while police stations nationwide are establishing dedicated gender-based violence desks and victim-friendly services.
In his speech, Ramaphosa also ordered the ministers of police and justice to conduct a 60-day national audit of unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual offenses involving women and children.
The audit will identify the number and age of unresolved cases, cases awaiting forensic evidence, cases in which suspects have been identified but not arrested, and cases in which investigative or prosecutorial action has been unreasonably delayed, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday night announced a series of new measures against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), adding to ongoing efforts to combat the crisis.The presidential address follows widespread national outrage after the discovery of 11 women’s bodies across the city of Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, since July.A specialized multidisciplinary task team, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n