Gauteng municipalities have seven days to begin safety audits in areas identified as high-risk spots for gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
This comes as part of the provincial plan to combat the scourge.
The plans were outlined by Premier Panyaza Lesufi during a briefing on Friday, following the separate murders of at least 12 women in the province in recent months.
Lesufi said that the hazards to be identified included broken streetlights, abandoned buildings, overgrown spaces, and unsafe transport routes.
“And I share your frustrations to say these are day-to-day service delivery-related matters. We don’t have to wait for the President to commission an audit of these buildings. But this assists us now that it is a coordinated approach,” Lesufi said.
An inter-ministerial committee plans to meet weekly to oversee the plan, which also includes widespread intervention in the police service.
Lesufi said that the process would be expedited. “… where the President said you must do it in 90 days, in Gauteng we’ll do it in 70 days. And therefore in the 16 days of activism we will be in a position to give an update,” Lesufi added.
The 16 Days of Activism campaign is held annually in November. GBVF was classified as a national disaster during the same period last year.
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Karinda Jagmohan
www.ewn.co.za
