The Gauteng Provincial Government has identified 10 police stations to be prioritised for support in its gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) plan.
This was announced by Premier Panyaza Lesufi during a media briefing following a meeting with the province’s mayors, municipal managers and law enforcement agencies to assess and strengthen the provincial response to GBVF.
The 10 stations have recorded the highest rape cases, and these stations include Rietgat, Alexandra, Mamelodi, Diepsloot, Ivory Park, Dobsonville, Redhill, Midrand and Thembisa, amongst others.
“We are of the view that if we can’t put additional resources in terms of policing, victim empowerment and all related issues…including dockets in these police stations, we would have failed the call that the President has given us.
“That’s why we have to ringfence these police stations and provide the relevant support that is needed,” Lesufi said.
Additionally, consolidated support the provincial government has given includes the strengthening of seven Thuthuzela Care Centres and providing support to sexual offence courts, which house the 144 victim friendly rooms.
“We are also bringing in the 19 Medical Legal Clinics to assist in preventing the loss of forensic evidence.
“In addition, we are increasing and amplifying SAPS [South African Police Service] GBV desks to deal with cases swiftly. A total of 1022 GBV brigades will be deployed across 122 high-risk police precincts with tools of trade. We are adding 56 social workers within the Department of Social Development,” Lesufi explained.
Provincial response to four-point plan
Lesufi said the provincial government will implement President Cyril Ramaphosa’s four-point plan to fight GBVF with the addition of a fifth commitment to places of safety.
The President’s four-point plan was announced this week and includes:
- SAPS and the Justice Department to undertake a national case-recovery operation focused on unresolved murders, attempted murders, rapes and serious sexual offences involving women and children.
- Minister of Police, the National Commissioner of Police and the relevant forensic authorities to present, within 60 days, a funded plan to reduce forensic backlogs and establish clear turnaround standards for priority gender-based violence and femicide cases.
- Every municipality must begin a women’s safety audit without delay. High-risk areas must be identified, working with provincial governments and the police.
- Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, working with the Ministers of Health, Social Development, Police and Cooperative Governance, to submit to Cabinet within 60 days a coordinated legislative and enforcement package to reduce alcohol-related violence.
READ | Four-point plan to aid the GBVF fight
Additionally, the provincial government will be adding support to safe places for survivors of GBVF.
“We are mapping the shelters and identifying what, as a province, we call green doors. Places of safety for women, for children and an audit of all buildings, staffing and funding gaps related to this kind of support.
“I can safely confirm that we’ve got a draft plan that we’ve put on the table with overwhelming support from all participants…from municipalities, provincial government and national government. We are of the view that this plan responds to the President’s call,” Lesufi said.
Three additional issues that will be looked at include the tracking of missing people, providing victim support for the families of those missing or unaccounted for and the pooling of an inter-governmental resource team to do tracking and supporting.
“What we have… [is to] establish an Inter-Governmental Committee on Disaster Management where we are coordinating everything related to local government.
“We’ve also established an Inter-Government Committee on Policy where we are bringing all the resources of law enforcement agencies. We also have an Inter-Government Relations Committee that was monitoring issues of water and energy [and] now we are introducing a new committee on [GBVF].
“On this, we have agreed to meet every Wednesday to take stock of directives that the President has given us,” he said.
Not starting from scratch
The Premier noted that the province has had an anti-GBVF plan and is not building systems from the ground up.
“What we are doing now is auditing the case numbers that are based, tracking individual recovery action plans, following up on police station failures, especially on lost dockets, protection orders, bail-related safety and family communication, and providing additional support to the affected municipalities in particular, to the municipality of Ekurhuleni.
“All municipalities agreed to provide an audit, in the next seven days, on the following areas that have been identified: broken streetlights, overgrown spaces and poorly secured parks, abandoned or hijacked buildings, unsafe routes, taxi ranks and facilities and areas that will assist us to get evidence in terms of CCTV cameras and other support systems” he explained.
A technical team has also been established to also draw national departments and entities closer that may provide additional support to the province.
“This, we believe, will ensure that our action plan on dealing with the directives of the President will be relevant, up-to-date, up to speed, measurable but most importantly, that each and every member of society can track what we are committing ourselves to do as the provincial government, municipalities and national government.”
At the same media briefing, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni reflected on some of the cases of women killed in Ekurhuleni, noting that reports are “indicating a trend of victims being killed by people close to them”.
“We have pleaded that the police…can only police outside our yards. We have called on the public and families to report incidents of abuse of women. It is for that reason the President has called for dialogues for men and families.
“What we are concerned about as government is the high number of crimes targeted at women by people closest to them. But also, we are working to make sure that we create public spaces that are safe for women to exist [and] also create shelters for women to go to for help and opportunities for women to be supported,” Ntshavheni said.
Help
She added that both the GBVF Command Centre and Crime Stop numbers are fully operational.
Members of the public can report information through the Crime Stop toll-free number, 08600 10111, or contact the 24-hour Gender-Based Violence Command Centre on 0800 428 428.
The GBV Command Centre can also be reached by sending a Please Call Me to 1207867#, SMSing “HELP” to 31531, or contacting Skype: Helpme GBV. – SAnews.gov.za
