Panafrican News Agency

South Africa: Ramaphosa slams violence against women

Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa on Friday termed violence against women as a national crisis and “the worst form of desecration of the Constitution and its promise of gender equality”.

 

In a Women's Day address in the town of Vryburg, Ramaphosa said the phenomenon appeared to defy government's efforts to fight the abuse of females.

 

PANA reports that the annual national holiday marks the anniversary of the historic 1956 march, when about 20,000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against legislation aimed at tightening the apartheid government's control over the movement of black women in urban areas.

 

"Despite our best efforts, despite our progressive laws and policies, this country’s women and girls live in fear. On the streets, in schools and universities, in churches and places of worship and, worst of all, in their homes. We must acknowledge here, as we have in the past, the stubborn persistence of patriarchy that leads men to think they are superior to their mothers, their wives and their daughters," Ramaphosa said. 

 

The official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) noted that 25 years into democracy, women remain worst affected by poverty, violence and abuse.

 

“This is why the party’s Women’s Day celebrations throughout the country are dedicated to the fight against gender-based violence and an improvement in policing to make sure that we abolish violent crimes against women,” said DA leader Maimane.

–0– PANA CU/VAO 9Aug2019