Overview
- President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the package in a televised address on Tuesday, September 29, ordering immediate action after the discovery of multiple bodies in Ekurhuleni.
- He directed a national case‑recovery operation that must audit all unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual‑offence cases within 60 days and produce individual 90‑day recovery plans for priority and stalled matters.
- The president gave police and forensic authorities 60 days to present a funded plan to cut the national forensic backlog, required priority samples linked to the rape or murder of women and children to be ring‑fenced, and mandated quarterly public reporting on turnaround times.
- All municipalities must begin women’s safety audits within 60 days to map hazards such as broken streetlights, overgrown spaces and unsafe transit routes and must fix or fund urgent repairs within 90 days.
- The Ekurhuleni probe has been elevated to a national multidisciplinary team, several arrests have been made, investigators say current forensic and mobile data do not point to a single perpetrator, and the Inter‑Ministerial Committee must publish a consolidated progress report within 90 days.