Africa-Press – South-Africa. Ten police precincts account for almost 30% of all gender-based violence (GBV) cases reported in the Western Cape.
The precincts with the highest levels of reported GBV cases are Delft, Mfuleni, Mitchells Plain, Harare, Nyanga, Kraaifontein, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Worcester and Kleinvlei. Together, these stations reported 27% of all GBV cases in the province.
This was revealed by the South African Police Service (SAPS) at the Western Cape government’s Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Summit, which was held on Thursday.
During the presentation, police representatives said gender-based violence peaks over weekends and between 21:00 and midnight, with women between the ages of 26 and 35 most likely to be victims.
In 74% of reported cases, GBV victims were in a close relationship with or knew the perpetrator. More than half of the reported incidents took place in the victim or perpetrator’s home.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said the province needed to place increased focus on reducing the number of women falling victim to GBV.
“Gender-based violence and femicide remain one of our biggest and most pressing problems,” he said.
According to Winde, the GBV command centre recorded more than 400 cases in a year.
He added that these cases were only those reported, and it was likely much higher.
According to the most recent quarterly crime statistics, between April and June, 116 women were murdered in the Western Cape – a 25% year-on-year increase. Another 159 attempted murder cases were reported, along with 1 997 assault cases.
However, Winde said the province was starting to see the benefits of its safety plan, implemented three years ago.
A key component of this plan had been the rollout of Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) officers.
In areas, where LEAP officers were deployed, there was a decrease in murder, said the premier.
He said the murder rate in Mitchells Plain had decreased by 42% in the last quarter, by 12% in Khayelitsha, and by 16% in Kraaifontein.
Comparatively, the national murder rate had increased by 11% over the same period, Winde added.
He said:
Winde called on the province to develop a detailed dashboard to track GBV, much like the one developed to monitor Covid-19 and trauma cases in Western Cape hospitals.
“I want to see a dashboard that shows the numbers and what we’re doing to decrease them. This [is] about getting ahead of gender-based violence,” he said.
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