Ramaphosa vows to ‘pull out all stops’ to protect women after Ekurhuleni killings

President Cyril Ramaphosa has said government will “pull out all stops” to protect women after the discovery of nine bodies in the Kempton Park and Ekurhuleni areas over a two-month period. Speaking to journalists at the ANC Veterans League fundraising golf day in Woodmead, he described gender-based violence as a national crisis and said government must take responsibility for protecting women.

Government responsibility and response

Ramaphosa told reporters that “government is there to protect the people of South Africa, plain and simple. So when things like these happen, government should take responsibility.” He said the state could not distance itself from that duty even when violence occurred in private homes.

“Even if at times gender-based violence happens in the privacy of people’s homes, people of South Africa expect their government to protect them. So we will never run away from that responsibility. It is our duty,”

The president said the government would strengthen its response by deploying “more money, more resources, more technology” and that it would “be pulling out all stops to find these perpetrators.” He also said an inter-ministerial committee would develop initiatives in response to the crisis.

Calls for broader social change

Ramaphosa said addressing gender-based violence required more than government action, calling on men to change how they viewed and treated women. “The women of our country, broadly and countrywide, the women of South Africa should never have to live in fear of men. And that is precisely what we’re now going to be addressing more forcefully,” he said.

“That men should never regard women as their playground, as people or citizens that they should harm or even kill,”

He added:

“The women of our country are the builders of the nation. They carry this nation on their shoulders. Now to abuse them and to even kill them is a real blight against all of us,”

and called for men to “respect and honour women and should never regard them as people they could harm or kill.”

Investigation and police actions

Police have been investigating the deaths of nine women found in the Kempton Park and Ekurhuleni areas over two months, and are also probing whether the cases are linked. Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia cautioned that investigators have not established the work of a serial killer, saying the investigations pointed to “different possible motives and methods.”

Over the weekend, the Gauteng Murder and Robbery Unit arrested three suspects a man and two women in connection with the murder of Jabulile Ntimba, whose body was found in Dawn Park. Police said the woman, believed to be about 30, was found partially clothed in an open area on Lama Street in Villa Lisa and had suffered a fatal throat injury. The three suspects are expected to appear in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court.

Developments in the investigations have prompted increased police deployments in affected parts of Ekurhuleni and the strengthening of a multidisciplinary team to investigate the deaths.

Admission of shortcomings and commitment

Ramaphosa acknowledged the government’s response would not be without shortcomings, saying there could be “missteps and areas where there had been neglect,” but added that the commitment to tackle gender-based violence “is fierce and it is forceful.”

“The death of women, the raping of women, the abuse of women is something that we as government must say we are going to take steps to protect the women of our country,”

he said, adding that the government was committed to ensuring women’s safety.