Off the wire
• Revised U.S. travel alert advises pregnant women to avoid Zika areas below 2,000 meters  • Madagascar's water supply, sanitation under-funded  • Feature: Tale of two knights comes to London stage  • Madagascar is developing action plan to fight against Zika virus  • Final of 13th "Chinese Bridge" Competition held at University of Latvia  • Eight Latvian border guards, customs officer held for involvement in car-theft ring  • Portuguese president says end of financial crisis possible  • China, Russia support resumption of Six-Party Talks, promise more efforts  • British FTSE 100 rises 1.71 pct on Friday  • Fresh fighting forces South Sudanese to flee homes  
You are here: 　 Home

Spate of violence against women in South Africa sparks outrage

Xinhua, March 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

The latest spate of crimes of violence against women has prompted outrage in South Africa, as well as calls for the government to take actions.

Both the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party and the opposition on Friday urged police to redouble their efforts in fighting crime.

It comes after several women were killed in separate incidents in parts of the country.

In the latest case, the body of 20-year-old Sinoxolo Mafevuka was found on Wednesday in a public toilet in Khayelitsha, an informal settlement in Cape Town. A probe revealed she was raped, but no arrests have been made.

On Monday, Franziska Blochliger, 16, was raped and murdered while walking in a forest in Cape Town. Four suspects have been arrested.

In February, the body of 61-year-old Mapula Margaret Malatji was found mutilated in Seshego, Limpopo province. No arrests have been made.

The ANC offices in Western Cape province, where Cape Town is located, has condemned the police for their "lacklustre service", asking them to take actions quickly.

Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party has also urged police to address violence against women urgently.

"Crimes against women are inordinately high in South Africa. We cannot simply accept the high rate of violence against women as a statistical anomaly. Government must take action to eradicate this plague," said DA member of parliament, Zakhele Mbhele.

He said the "under-resourcing" of the South African Police Service (SAPS) had contributed to the rising violence against women.

The 2014/15 annual report of SAPS showed there were 4,318 vacancies within the SAPS with posts unfilled in many stations.

In Western Cape, the police to population ratio is in excess of one police officer to 700 residents in some of the precincts hit hardest by crime, while this is compared to a national average of one police officer to every 328 people, according to DA.

Figures show in 2014/15, almost 30,000 sexual offences and over 54,000 serious assaults were committed against women in South Africa. Endit