by Siviwe Zibi
It’s been happening for years, it’s not something new. It’s the norm. We hear about it every day in the news and what is our government doing to curb it. How many more women will die in the hands of men. Women are being killed day in and day out. On 1 August 2018 thousands of women marched the Union Buildings to demand an end to violence against women and children. The president said he would look into what protesters asked for very, very carefully and promised a gender summit, which was one of the demands made. South African women have had enough of empty promises from the government, it is about time for the government to act and prioritise gender-based violence.
The government must implement measures that will contain this unending nightmare for women and children. The rights of women and children are being violated. Police should be trained on how to deal with victims of violence.
Police minister Bheki Cele released a crime statistics yesterday, 12 September, for 2018/19. A total of 21,022 people were murdered in South Africa between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, while 52,420 were victims of sexual offences. 144 cases of rape and sexual assault are reported in South Africa every day. Sexual offences has increased by 4.6%. There was also an increase in sexual offences against children, with 24 387 children falling victim, a 3.8% increase.
“Women issues, murder and the fear factor those crimes that make South Africans live in fear like house robbery, house burglary. Those are the things we need to work hard on. The rapes reported to the police, the highest number were women and then men aged 20-29, followed by 30-39 years old” said Cele.
The minister said they are improving the physical conditions of police stations for victims and care centres with the overnight facility.
