Where are your GBV laws, Ramaphosa?

President Cyril Ramaphosa was sombre on Wednesday when he lashed femicide and gender-based violence (GBV). But it was a refrain we have heard many times before.

In September last year, Ramaphosa promised a war on GBV, committing government spending of R1.5 billion to the campaign. But where has that money gone and what has been done?

The easy answer is: who knows; and … very little.

On Wednesday night, Ramaphosa urged parliament to process GBV-related legislation without delay, implying that our lawmakers were sitting on their hands. Yesterday, in parliament, it turned out no such Bills have been put forward by the government … and no one seems to know what has happened to them.

Surprise, surprise.

It is all very well for our leaders to make stirring speeches and wring their hands in anguish as yet another female – whether a six-year-old rape and murder victim or a gogo bludgeoned to death in an old-age home – heads to the mortuary.

But if our government and politicians don’t consider the genocide against women in our country to be an urgent matter, then why should all the killers out there?

The more you call on us to fight in this war, the more we will ask why you’ve gone AWOL.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.