Please leave our women alone

Not only should South African society hang their heads in shame, but our justice system has plenty to answer for when it comes to women.

To learn that almost half of female murder investigations don’t identify perpetrators and three women are killed each day with intimate partners the common offenders, shows that we are indeed losing the femicide war.

Sadly, one in four women also reported experience of physical and sexual abuse. Last week, during its briefing to the portfolio committee on social development, the South African Medical Research Council reported that investigations failed to identify suspects in nearly half of women murder cases.

Activists blame the criminal justice system after taking into account the 2020-21 research study findings that revealed investigations failed to identify the killer which increased to 44% – up from 30% in 2017.

Brenda Madumise-Pajibo, director of feminist organisation Wise4Afrika, said: “If someone knows they’ve committed a crime, especially a violent one like murder and they haven’t been apprehended, they are likely to do it again.

ALSO READ: ‘NPA continues to fail women victims of GBV’ – AfriForum

The lack of consequences creates a cycle of violence – one where perpetrators know they can get away with it.” They listed the problem of identifying those responsible for the killings as “under-reporting, a lack of thorough investigations and limited police resources”.

She added: “This failure is compounded by outdated systems and inefficiencies, such as backlogs in DNA testing for rape cases and other violent crimes.

These issues have devastating consequences because modern forensic tools and technology could help solve cases faster, apprehend perpetrators, and bring closure to victims’ families.

This leads to a system that is failing women. It is contributing to more intimate partner violence which, in many cases, escalates to femicide.”

This has to stop immediately. Leave our women alone.

ALSO READ: Activists call for more focus on gender-based violence and femicide