South Africa to clean up high-risk areas after 12 women killed

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a nationwide clean‑up of high‑risk areas after the bodies of 12 women were found in an eastern Johannesburg locality within a span of just two months. The discoveries triggered a national outcry over the country’s alarming levels of gender‑based violence, which ranks among the highest globally. Ramaphosa described the response as a multidisciplinary, national‑level emergency effort tied to the killings, noting that four arrests have already been made. He declared that gender‑based violence “cannot be accepted as a normal part of life in South Africa” and conceded that the state “has not done enough” to safeguard women and girls. “There has understandably been widespread fear that the discovery of these women in close proximity could signal the work of a single perpetrator,” Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation. He added, “At present, the police have not recovered evidence establishing that these killings were committed by a single perpetrator.” Acknowledging that recent years have seen insufficient action to curb gender‑based violence, the president unveiled a new package of protective measures. “Every municipality must begin a women’s safety audit without delay,” he stated. “High‑risk areas must be identified” and addressed. The audits are to pinpoint broken streetlights, overgrown public spaces, abandoned buildings, unsafe transport routes and facilities, poorly secured parks, and other conditions that place women at risk. Ramaphosa also introduced an “enforcement package” aimed at curbing alcohol‑related violence. “Alcohol does not cause gender‑based violence and it can never excuse it. Responsibility always lies with the perpetrator,” he said. He continued, “But harmful alcohol use is a significant aggravating factor in interpersonal violence, and it must be addressed as part of our wider prevention effort.” The president called for a deeper societal shift beyond policing and legislation. “It does not begin when a fist is raised or when a woman is raped or murdered,” he remarked. “It begins much earlier,” he explained. “It begins in attitudes that respect women as inferior… with the belief that a man has the right to control a woman.” He elaborated, “It begins when jealousy is mistaken for love, when power is mistaken for entitlement and coercion is mistaken for affection.” He concluded, “It begins when a man refuses to accept the word no.” Ramaphosa urged men and boys to take the lead in ending gender‑based violence. “We have placed the burden of male violence on women,” he said. “That must change.” He added, “The solution to violence against women cannot be to make women less free.” South Africa records one of the world’s highest homicide rates, with 5,427 people killed between April and June of this year alone. Although police statistics do not break down victims by gender, the South African Human Rights Commission reported that 569 women were killed and 1,052 others survived attempted murder during the same period.