By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to sign into law the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill and the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill in a ceremony at the Union Buildings on Friday.
According to the Presidency, the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill is a “critical step forward in ensuring the safety and security of women from all walks of life”.
“The establishment of a council dedicated to drive a whole-of-society approach to combat this scourge is fundamental.
“The council will be the statutory body charged with providing strategic leadership in the elimination of gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa,” the Presidency said.
South Africa is no stranger to gruesome cases of gender-based violence (GBV). In 2013, Anene Booysen, 17, was brutally attacked, raped, and disembowelled in Bredasdorp.
In 2017, 22-year-old Karabo Mokoena’s body was found burnt in an open field in Johannesburg. Her then boyfriend was later charged and jailed for her murder.
In 2019, 19-year-old university student Uyinene Mrwetyana was raped and murdered at a post office in Cape Town. In 2020, the body of 28-year-old Tshegofatso Pule, who was eight months pregnant, was found stabbed and hanging from a tree outside Johannesburg. A year later, 23-year-old law student.
Nosicelo Mtebeni was killed and dismembered, her body found stuffed inside a suitcase. These crimes left the nation reeling, but they are just a few of many.
Police Minister Bheki Cele released the second-quarter crime statistics for 2023/2024. He reported that South Africa recorded 10,516 rapes, 1,514 cases of attempted murder. A total of 14,401 assaults against female victims occurred in July, August, and September.
In the same period, 881 women were murdered. Reports also suggest that GBV intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic as victims were no longer able to escape their attackers.
Meanwhile, National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Bill paves way, among others, for the provision of the establishment of the Investigative Directorate against Corruption.
“The Directorate, which will over time incorporate the existing Investigating Directorate, will have investigative capacity with priority given to particularly serious criminal or unlawful conduct committed in serious, high-profile or complex corruption, commercial or financial crime.
“The legislation directs that the Directorate be given the infrastructure and resources needed to perform its functions,”the Presidency said.