Cele calls for firm hand in fight against GBV

Police minister Bheki Cele has urged for a firm hand by officers in the fight against gender-based violence (GBV) as the nation continues to see a rise in the scourge of such crimes.

Addressing the People Opposing Women Abuse (Powa) protest at the Silverton police station on Friday, Cele called on police officers to put in extra effort in GBV crimes and assist survivors to get justice.

“I wish to offer myself and the department to be part of this war against gender-based violence, as President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared this as a second pandemic – it shows that it is not normal, as police we need to put in extra effort in this fight,” he said.

“I’ve never failed to say this to the police: it is not their duty to tell women to negotiate with their abusers, once a woman reports a case the police must act and not tell her to negotiate, because they might no be able to come, she might die. We must jump to protect women”

Cele reprimanded some officers who questioned what women were wearing when raped.

“Police cannot ask women what they were wearing when a rape is reported,” he said.

“They are not fashion advisors. Everyone has the right to wear whatever they choose and this does not give men the right to rape them.”

Cele urged the public to take part in the fight against GBV, saying “it is something we all have to deal with”.

“I still insist that GBV is a societal issue. There are cases where police try to deal with but get backlash from some families and they withdraw saying that its a disgrace.

“We are asking families not to support the perpetrators but support the victims. There is a lot of untold support for the perpetrators,” he said.

Cele also urged the service to provide feedback on cases.

Powa headed to the local station, as part of the 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children campaign, to call for the justice system to offer more support to GBV survivors.

Powa CEO Mary Makgaba said the march was aimed at highlighting how departments within the justice system – from the police, investigating officers, magistrates, prosecutors, magistrates, judges and others – often failed survivors.

Among the list of issues raised was a lack of feedback on the progress of cases, delays in effecting arrests, failure to arrest perpetrators, secondary victimisation of survivors, police referring GBV cases to be dealt with by families at home as well as poor attitudes by some police offices.

The protesters also demanded the police to offer support services such as transportation of survivors to hospital and shelters, placement of well-trained staff to deal with GBV survivors at the SAPS and stopping mediation by the SAPS between perpetrators and survivors.

Cele said the department was already dealing with issues of ill-treatment of women and how the service can provide more support to victims.

“One thing we are trying to do is to have dedicated police members at the dedicated desk at the stations so that when people go to report they are not attended by whoever but by a person who will understand the situation.

“This will enable us to track the officers who do not respond well when people are reporting cases,” he said.

Cele also applauded the work done by the service in dealing with GBV crimes.

He said since the inception of the family violence, child protection and sexual offences investigations unit in 2010 at police stations, 5 544 people have been jailed for life.

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