Police Minister Bheki Cele has named 30 communities in the country which are considered gender-based violence hot spots.
Police Minister Bheki Cele during nedia briefing where he gave deatil on policing during the COVID-19 lockdown. Tuesday, 22 September 2020: Picture: Twitter/@GovernmentZA
JOHANNESBURG – Police Minister Bheki Cele on Tuesday said that while the country stood a good chance of beating COVID-19, the same could not be said about gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide.
He has named 30 communities in the country which are considered gender-based violence hot spots.
These include Delft, Bellville, Nyanga in the Western Cape and Gauteng’s Diepsloot, Alexandra, Moroka and Honeydew.
Cele said that among the interventions that would be implemented to deal with gender-based violence was to ensure that police stations in the hot spots had victim friendly rooms and had a special desk to deal with the cases.
This is part of the police’s role in implementing level one of the lockdown.
Cele said that the information showed that special attention needed to be paid to Tembisa, Orange Farm, Mamelodi East, Umlazi, Inanda, Temba, Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Mitchells Plain among others.
“As part of the SAPS’ integrated sexual offences and GBV action plan, there are proactive measures with short, medium and long-term frames. GBV remains a priority crime for SAPS.”
The minister said that access to resources should not be limited to the hot spot areas but become the norm at all police stations.
