Johannesburg – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response to the killings of women in Ekurhuleni, describing the government’s latest measures to tackle gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) as a belated intervention.
The criticism follows Ramaphosa’s address to the nation on Tuesday night, in which he outlined a four-point intervention plan aimed at addressing persistent failures in the criminal justice system, with specific timelines attached to the measures.
The President’s address came amid mounting concern over GBVF, particularly following the discovery of multiple women’s bodies across Ekurhuleni.
Among the measures announced was a plan to establish the scale and age of forensic backlogs, identify shortages of personnel and equipment, determine the resources required to clear the backlogs and set deadlines for doing so.
Ramaphosa also said forensic samples linked to the rape or murder of women and children would be prioritised for urgent processing.
For too long, gender-based violence has been treated as a women’s problem to solve.
Women march, organise, protest and comfort survivors.
Women change their routes home, avoid going out at night and warn one another about dangerous places and dangerous men.…
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) September 29, 2026
“The plan must set out the size and age of the backlog, shortages of personnel and equipment, the resources required and the dates by which the backlog will be reduced,” he said.
He added that progress would be reported publicly every quarter, with the government expected to track whether forensic processing targets were being met.
The announcement comes as Ekurhuleni grapples with the discovery of 10 women’s bodies since July, raising renewed concerns about the safety of women and the government’s response to GBVF.
The EFF said Ramaphosa’s decision to address the nation followed “immense public pressure, outrage and the exposure of the horrific killings in Ekurhuleni”.
The party said the women who were killed had been failed by institutions responsible for protecting them long before their bodies were discovered.
“The women whose lives were taken in Ekurhuleni did not become victims when their bodies were discovered,” the EFF said.
The EFF’s Statement on President Ramaphosa’s Address on Gender-Based Violence and the Killings of Women in Ekurhuleni
-The women murdered in Ekurhuleni were not isolated victims. Their deaths occurred within a country where women face persistent sexual violence, domestic… pic.twitter.com/SFKCqXI2Ez
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) September 29, 2026
“They were failed long before their deaths by institutions that are supposed to protect them.”
The EFF also criticised the government’s announcement of reviews of unresolved murders, attempted murders and rape cases involving women and children, as well as safety audits and measures to address forensic backlogs.
The party said these measures did not amount to a new response because the government already had extensive information about the country’s GBVF crisis.
“South Africa does not suffer from an absence of information about GBVF; it suffers from a failure of political will, institutional capacity, and accountability,” the EFF said.
The party argued that crime statistics, police dockets, court records, forensic data and community reports already provide government with information on where violent crime occurs and where institutional weaknesses exist.
Existing interventions
It said the government should focus on implementing existing interventions rather than repeatedly establishing new mechanisms.
“What is required is not another mechanism to identify the crisis, but the political and administrative capacity to act on information already available,” the EFF said.
The party also called for accountability where police investigations, forensic processing, prosecutions and support for victims have failed.
“If police investigations were inadequately conducted, there must be accountability; if forensic evidence was left unprocessed, there must be accountability; if prosecutors failed to proceed with viable cases, there must be accountability,” it said.
The EFF said the families of women killed in Ekurhuleni require justice and competent investigations, while government must demonstrate that it can prevent similar cases.
“The urgent task is to deploy resources to those areas, repair dysfunctional institutions, hold officials accountable, and ensure that every component of the criminal justice system performs the function for which it exists,” the party said.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
