Overview
- President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered a televised address outlining a four-point plan that he says will speed investigations and strengthen prevention of gender-based violence and femicide.
- He directed Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia and Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi to run a national case recovery operation with a 60-day audit of unresolved cases and 90-day individual recovery plans for priority and stalled files.
- The plan requires a funded strategy to reduce forensic laboratory backlogs, mandates that priority samples in rape and murder cases be fast-tracked, and orders quarterly public reporting on turnaround times.
- Municipalities must carry out women safety audits to map high-risk areas such as broken streetlights, overgrown spaces and unsafe routes, and the presidency has ordered a separate plan to reduce alcohol-related violence as part of prevention efforts.
- The address comes as police investigate a string of women’s killings in Ekurhuleni that has heightened public pressure on authorities and reinforced the government’s use of a national-disaster framework to coordinate the response.