Cape Town home to 8 out of 30 GBV hotspots

Delft is the number one hotspot for gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa. This statistic was released on a list in which government identified 30 GBV hotspots, eight of which are in Cape Town.

Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, and SAPS commissioner Khehla Sithole made this announcement at a media briefing on law enforcement during lockdown level 1 on September, 22.

During the briefing Cele described the GBV crisis as a ‘second pandemic’, saying, “Gender-based violence is a societal evil that must be contained at all costs.”

This list of hotspots was based on nine ‘key’ variables that included the number of cases reported to the SAPS during the last year. The Minister highlighted reports of rape, human trafficking, and kidnapping for sexual offence in the briefing. Figures of reported domestic violence-related cases, such as murder and assault GBH were also taken into consideration.

The data gathered from health facilities, Thuthuzela Centers, and other victim support services were also used to get an indication of the prevalence of GBV in a particular area.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee on GBV will elaborate on the actions to be taken in the hotspot areas.

Cele declared that GBV remains a priority for the SAPS and listed some of the interventions that the police will undertake in the identified areas, saying: “As part of the SAPS’s Integrated Sexual offences and GBV action plan, there are pro-active measures with short, medium to long-term timeframes.”

These include a permanent desk dedicated to GBV and access to DNA collection kits at all police stations.

“This will go a long way in ensuring victims of gender crimes are responded to by trained officers in a professional way,” said Cele. “These dedicated desks will reduce the risk of ill-treatment at the hands of officers, as we have seen in some instances.”

Sithole indicated that a medium to long-term goal is to alleviate the GBV case backlog, as well as reinvestigating cold cases. He also said that the capacitating of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FCS) specialised unit that handles all GBV and femicide cases is ongoing and so was the training of members.

Picture: GCIS/Flickr