​Violence against women and children continue to rise unabated. That’s according to the latest Gauteng Police quarterly statistics covering April and June of this year.
Presenting the province’s first quarter crime numbers Gauteng Police Commissioner, Elias Mawela, said women and children remained the main victims of crime in the province. He added that 283 more cases of murder were reported in the province in comparison to the same period last year.

Out of 1490 people who were killed, 155 of them were women and 50 of them were children. Furthermore, a total of 30 cases of murder registered during this period were related to domestic violence where female victims were 18 and males 16.

These alarming numbers come amid government’s increased interventions in the fight against gender-based violence and genocide. Just to this point, late last year Parliament passed the Gender-Based Violence, Criminal and Related Act, Sexual Offenses and Related Act

The improved pieces of legislations were introduced by parliament following a November 2018 Presidential Summit against gender-based violence and genocide.

The summit resolved, amongst others, to fast-track the review of the existing laws on gender-based violence, making them victim centred and ensure all other laws respond to GBV.