Cele Identifies Hotspots And Rates Chances Of Defeating GBV

Police Minister Bheki Cele on Tuesday said South Africa did not stand as good a chance of beating gender-based violence as it does the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government has identified the top 30 gender-based violence hotspots in its efforts to respond to what Police Minister Bheki Cele described as the “second pandemic”.

These include Delft, Bellville, Nyanga, Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape and Gauteng’s Diepsloot, Alexandra, Moroka, and Honeydew.

“The list was compiled based on nine key variables, including the number of cases reported to SAPS during the 2019/2020 financial year,” Cele said at a briefing on Tuesday.

“We are aware that the identification of these hotspots does not mean that GBV-F is only limited only in these places. This is why provinces are strongly encouraged to look at their own localised hotspots and ensure that victim centre services deliver in all corners of the country.”

Cele said that among the interventions that would be implemented to deal with such instances of gender-based violence was to ensure that police stations in the identified hot spots have victim friendly rooms and have a specified desk to deal with the cases.

“These permanent desks should not be limited to the hot spots areas only but should be a norm at all stations,” Cele said.

Read Cele’s Full Statement Here, which covers initiatives on GBV and continued efforts to support the Lockdown Regulations.