WATCH: Crowd boos as Ramaphosa cuts WEF short to address protesters

President Cyril Ramaphosa unexpectedly cut the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa short on Thursday to address protesters who demand action on South Africa’s current scourge of violence against women.

The president got Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to replace him on a panel with United Nations (UN) deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed to address those protesting outside parliament.

Protesters refused to sing the South African national anthem as they waited for the president to speak, and boos could be heard both before and during the address.

Ramaphosa expressed the urgency of the issue of violence against women and children and vowed to work to protect them.

“The pain our women are feeling is an immediate pain, it cannot be postponed. We want to increase the number of courts dealing with these matters.

READ MORE: ‘Rumours’ African countries are boycotting WEF over xenophobia are untrue – Presidency

“Crime that [has] been committed against women and children are priority crimes. They must be dealt with immediately,” he said.

“We will walk this journey with you, we will increase the protection of our women,” he continued, adding that he would be releasing a statement on the matter later on Thursday. 

The president said the issue would also be debated in parliament and that he was going to find more money to deal with it. He acknowledged his government needed to do more to intervene.

He also counted himself among those distressed about the current wave of violence.

“All of us have had enough of this, we are now going to take action to protect the women of our country,” he said.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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