Gauteng targets 10 police stations after rape cases surge, Ivory Park tops list - Lesufi - IOL

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi briefs the media on the province’s response to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

Gauteng has ring-fenced 10 police stations recording high numbers of rape cases for additional resources as the province intensifies its response to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), with Ivory Park topping the list.

The stations, Ivory Park, Roodepoort, Alexandra, Mamelodi East, Diepsloot, Kagiso, Atteridgeville, Rietgat, Meadowlands and Thembisa, will receive targeted support focused on policing, victim empowerment, docket management and related services.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the intervention was central to the province's response to President Cyril Ramaphosa's directives on GBVF and violent crime.

"We are of the view that if we can't put additional resources in terms of policing, victim empowerment and all related issues that we have raised here, including dockets, in these 10 police stations, we have failed the call the president has given us," Lesufi said.

The intervention follows a period of heightened concern after the bodies of 11 women were discovered in and around Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni. Another woman was found dead in Soweto, raising the number to 12.

Lesufi said the government’s response would not stop at policing.

A newly established intergovernmental committee on GBVF will meet weekly to track the implementation of measures arising from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s directives on GBVF and violent crime.

The province is also examining thousands of protection orders issued through Gauteng’s 43 magistrates’ courts to determine whether they are being properly enforced.

According to Lesufi, 3,462 interim and final protection orders are currently before the courts across the province’s five regions.

Authorities are monitoring their status around the clock, the premier said.

“We have protection orders in Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, Tshwane and in West Rand,” he said.

The government is also increasing funding for departments involved in the GBVF response and plans to provide additional support to organisations working directly with survivors.

Gauteng has seven Thuthuzela Care Centres, seven sexual offences courts and 19 medical-legal clinics supporting victims.

The province also has 145 SAPS GBV desks and 131 Green Doors, which provide temporary safe spaces and support to people escaping unsafe environments.

But Lesufi acknowledged that more police GBV desks were needed.