01/10/2026
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ILITHA LABANTU CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND MEANINGFUL ACTION ON SOUTH AFRICA'S VIOLENCE CRISIS
Ilitha Labantu notes President Cyril Ramaphosa's latest address on the country's violence crisis and the announcement of a 90 day plan to respond to it. While renewed attention to the crisis is necessary, the announcement is neither new nor sufficient on its own. South Africa has been confronted with the same failures for years. The DNA backlog, weaknesses in the criminal justice system, concerns around bail, inadequate policing capacity and the continued prevalence of GBVF have all been identified repeatedly, including under the current administration.
The concern is therefore not that government does not understand the problem. It does. These challenges have been documented, debated and acknowledged for years. What remains deeply concerning is the continued gap between acknowledgement and implementation. Public declarations, expressions of concern and new commitments have become a recurring feature of the national response to violence, yet many of the underlying conditions that allow violence to persist remain unchanged.
Seven years ago, the country was already hearing commitments around GBVF, the criminal justice system and the need to strengthen the state's response. The DNA backlog and the functioning of the bail system have continued to feature in public debate. If these remain unresolved to the extent that they now require renewed presidential intervention, the public is entitled to ask what happened to the commitments that were made before and why they did not produce the necessary change.
This pattern is particularly difficult to reconcile with the scale of violence South Africans continue to experience. Between April and June 2026, 5,427 people were murdered in the country. This included 569 women and approximately 300 children, leaving approximately 4,558 men among those murdered. During the same period, 9,201 r**es were reported. South Africa's femicide rate remains approximately six times the global average.
These staggering figures are not simply statistics. They are an indication of the depth of South Africa's crime and violence problem and the extent to which violence continues to shape the lives of communities across the country. Violent crime does more than claim lives. It disrupts families, undermines community safety and holds communities hostage to fear, insecurity and the constant threat of violence. Communities should not have to organise their lives around the possibility of becoming victims of crime.
These figures should also not be used to pit violence against men against violence against women and children. The number of men murdered reflects the scale of South Africa's broader violence crisis, while the killings of women and children and the thousands of reported r**e cases demonstrate the particular and persistent forms of violence experienced by women and children. These are not competing concerns. They are different manifestations of a wider crisis that requires a comprehensive and sustained response.
It is against this reality that questions about the allocation of public resources become particularly important. According to a parliamentary question and reply, more than R3.16 million has been paid to Police Minister Senzo Mchunu while on special leave, while a further R3.02 million has been incurred for Firoz Cachalia while performing the functions of Minister of Police. This amounts to approximately R6.19 million associated with one ministerial portfolio.
The concern is not simply the amount itself. It is what the expenditure represents when considered alongside the conditions faced by institutions responding to violence. At the Khayelitsha Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit, which investigates sexual offences, crimes against children and domestic violence, only 21 officials are reportedly available against an identified ideal strength of 43. The unit is therefore 22 officials short. At the same police station, 15 of 38 police vehicles are reportedly in garages.
Using SAPS's own 2025 salary figures for the reappointment of experienced detectives, R6.19 million is roughly equivalent to the annual basic salaries of 26 Constable-ranked detectives, 20 Sergeant-ranked detectives or 16 Warrant Officer-ranked detectives. Mchunu's remuneration alone is equivalent to approximately 13 Constable-ranked detectives for a year. These comparisons relate to basic salaries and do not represent the full cost of employing additional personnel.
This raises a broader question about what government is willing to prioritise while communities continue to experience extraordinary levels of violence. It is not an argument that R6.19 million would resolve the country's violence crisis. It would not. The point is that resource constraints are repeatedly cited when explaining the failures of frontline institutions, while government must also account for how it chooses to allocate the resources that are available.
The same question applies to the President's 90 day plan. A 90 day intervention may create a sense of urgency, but it risks offering a simplistic response to a much deeper systemic problem. South Africa's violence crisis has not developed over 90 days, and it will not be resolved within 90 days through a series of announcements or short-term interventions. The crisis is rooted in longstanding institutional weaknesses, failures of implementation, inadequate accountability, limited prevention and the conditions that continue to enable violence within communities.
The value of the plan will therefore depend on whether it addresses these structural conditions rather than simply responding to the immediate political moment. The public must be able to see what is being implemented, who is responsible for implementation, what resources have been committed and what measurable outcomes will be achieved.
This is particularly important in relation to the DNA backlog and bail. These are not new challenges. Their implications for survivors, investigations and the prosecution of serious offences have been known for years. If they continue to require renewed presidential intervention, there must be accountability for what happened to the previous commitments and why those commitments did not produce the necessary change.
This raises serious concerns about institutional complacency. Government cannot continuously respond to known systemic failures only when they become politically or publicly urgent. Its responsibility is to anticipate, prevent and address these failures before they result in further harm.
The recent violence and public concern following incidents such as those in Kempton Park further demonstrate why this approach is inadequate. The response to violence cannot begin only after another tragedy captures national attention. The systems intended to prevent violence, protect communities, support survivors and ensure accountability must be functioning before a crisis occurs.
What is required is a decisive shift away from episodic dialogue and symbolic gestures towards comprehensive, adequately resourced and sustained interventions. This requires prevention, psychosocial support, healthcare, justice and community-based protection to work together, supported by clear accountability mechanisms and sustainable resources.
The continued uncertainty surrounding Minister Mchunu's position must also be resolved. However, resolving the status of one Minister will not resolve South Africa's broader violence crisis. Nor will another announcement or plan be sufficient if previous commitments remain unimplemented.
We cannot afford another cycle in which public outrage produces renewed declarations and plans, only for attention to eventually move elsewhere while the underlying conditions remain unchanged. The public has heard the diagnosis for years.
What is required now is not another diagnosis. It is meaningful, measurable and sustained action.
Ilitha Labantu remains committed to working with government, civil society and communities to strengthen responses to violence against women and children and violence more broadly, while continuing to advocate for accountability and the systemic change required to build safer communities.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Siyabulela Monakali
Communications Manager, Ilitha Labantu
[email protected]
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