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President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on all South Africans to end the culture of silence around gender-based violence (GBV) and report perpetrators to the South African Police Service (SAPS).
Since the country entered coronavirus (Covid-19) alert level 3 there has been a surge in GBV and femicide, the Presidency said in a statement on Saturday.
“It is a dark and shameful week for us as a nation. Criminals have descended to even greater depths of cruelty and callousness. It simply cannot continue,” Ramaphosa said in the statement.
“We note with disgust that at a time when the country is facing the gravest of threats from the pandemic, violent men are taking advantage of the eased restrictions on movement to attack women and children.
“As we still struggle to come to terms with the brutality inflicted on Tshegofatso Pule, Naledi Phangindawo, Nompumelelo Tshaka, and other women in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal whose bodies were found dumped this week, another woman has lost her life,” Ramaphosa said.
The manner in which these defenceless women were killed pointed to an unconscionable level of barbarism and lack of humanity.
Tshegofatso Pule, who was eight months pregnant, was found stabbed to death and hanging from a tree in an open veld last week. It was also suspected one of the murdered Eastern Cape women was a victim of a mob killing.
“According to the SAPS, there has been an increase in violent crime, especially murders, since we entered alert level 3. We need to understand what factors are fuelling this terrible trend and, as society as a whole, address them urgently,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa was deploying ministers and deputy ministers to meet community leaders in all districts around the country as part of national efforts to combat Covid-19. During these visits they would engage communities on the upsurge in GBV so that everyone could work together to prevent the killing of women, the statement said.
- African News Agency (ANA)
