Ramaphosa gives police and justice 60 days to audit stalled rape and murder cases

President Cyril Ramaphosa has given the police and justice ministries 60 days to complete a national audit of unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual offences involving women and children, and to have individual recovery plans in place for priority and stalled cases.

In an address to the nation on Tuesday evening, the President said he had directed the Acting Minister of Police, Professor Firoz Cachalia, and the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, to undertake the national case-recovery operation.

Within that 60-day window, the audit must establish the number and age of unresolved cases, how many are awaiting forensic evidence, how many involve suspects who have been identified but not arrested, and where investigative or prosecutorial action has been unreasonably delayed.

Each recovery plan must name the outstanding action, the responsible official and the deadline for moving the case forward.

A second 60-day deadline applies to forensics. Ramaphosa said he had directed Cachalia, the Acting National Commissioner of Police, Lieutenant General Puleng Dimpane, and the relevant forensic authorities to present a funded plan to cut backlogs and set clear turnaround standards for priority gender-based violence and femicide cases.

That plan must set out the size and age of the backlog, shortages of personnel and equipment, the resources required and the dates by which the backlog will be reduced. Forensic samples in cases involving the rape or murder of women and children must be ring-fenced for urgent processing, and progress against the turnaround standards must be reported publicly every quarter.

The third leg of the plan puts municipalities to work. Every municipality must begin a women’s safety audit without delay, identifying high-risk areas together with provincial governments and the police.

Within 60 days those audits must identify broken streetlights, overgrown public spaces, abandoned buildings, unsafe transport routes and facilities, poorly secured parks and other conditions that place women at risk. Within 90 days of completing the audit, the most urgent hazards must either have been addressed or be included in a funded implementation plan with clear completion dates.

The fourth directive goes to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, working with the Ministers of Health, Social Development, Police and Cooperative Governance. They must submit a coordinated legislative and enforcement package to Cabinet within 60 days aimed at reducing alcohol-related violence.

“Alcohol does not cause gender-based violence and it can never excuse it. Responsibility always lies with the perpetrator. But 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 framed the safety of women as a shared responsibility across government. “Women should not have to live in fear because government has failed to repair a light, clear a public space, process evidence or enforce a law. Every sphere of government must understand that the safety of women is part of its responsibility.”

Oversight of the measures sits with the Inter-Ministerial Committee and the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide, which will issue consolidated public progress reports every quarter. The first consolidated report is due within 90 days.

Ramaphosa said the directives “are not just a statement of good intentions”, and that they establish responsibilities, deadlines and a duty to report regularly to the nation. They are intended to accelerate implementation of key pillars of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.

He also argued that enforcement alone will not end the problem. “We must prevent the violence before it starts because programmes, stronger laws, additional resources and more police officers will not, on their own, end violence against women.”

Citing a national study by the South African Medical Research Council, he said more than 60% of women murdered in 2021 and 2022 were killed by an intimate partner. “We must confront the uncomfortable, devastating truth that the primary GBV hotspot is in the home and in interpersonal relationships.”

He said attitudes that treat women as inferior, or that a man has a right to control a woman, must be confronted, and that prevention must begin with how boys are raised and what they learn about consent, anger and rejection from the men around them. “For too long, gender-based violence has been treated as a women’s problem to solve. That must change.”

The President credited men who have spoken out publicly, naming Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and Proteas captain Temba Bavuma as figures who have used their platforms to urge men to confront violence against women. He directed the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture to strengthen the work of the Moral Regeneration Movement on the attitudes and social norms that enable such violence, and acknowledged the work of faith-based and community organisations, women’s and youth formations, educational institutions and traditional leaders.

This report is based on the government’s own account of the address, published by SAnews, the South African Government News Agency, rather than on a full transcript or the underlying directives. The 60-day and 90-day deadlines in the announcement run from the date of the address.

Source: SAnews (South African Government News Agency), Four-point plan to aid the GBVF fight, https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/four-point-plan-aid-gbvf-fight