Siyauyazi Mshengu

In an address on Wednesday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country will be moving to alert level 1 of the lockdown on 21 September midnight.

Ramaphosa during his speech said the government has identified 30 hotspot where gender based violence and homicide are most immanent.

The Crimes Against Women in South Africa Report by Statistics SA earlier this year, showed that femicide is five times higher than the global average. Since the Covid-19 lockdown began this year in March, there has been a great rise of continuous reports for many incidents of gender based violence.

Tshegofatso Pule is one of the two recent victims as well, where she was found stabbed and hanged in a tree in Roodeport, and Naledi Phangindawo who is a victim of an axe attack and stabbed to death in Mossel Bay.

“There has been a surge in gender based violence and femicide incidents across the country during level 3 of the lockdown, said Ramaphosa.

Crime stats 2019/20 delivered by the police minister, Bheki Cele in July shows KZN townships in the top 5, where Inanda being the rape capital for the second year in a row.

“Inanda tops rape in the South Africa, Umlazi comes second. Inanda is third with murder, Umlazi is fourth in the whole country. Which means, our most problematic areas are Umlazi and Inanda,” said Cele.

Crime and violence and violence against women and children remains as one of the biggest issues in South Africa.

“We are increasing and improving support services for survivors of gender based violence, we are doing so not just because the lockdown is eased, but as part of the work already underway to implement the National Strategic Plan adopted by Cabinet earlier this year,” added Ramaphosa.

Picture: timeslive.co.za