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“It is despicable that criminals are using this period of the lockdown as a cover to break the law at a time when our law-enforcement authorities are occupied with supporting the national effort to contain the pandemic.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa didn’t mince his words on Monday morning, when he addressed those who choose to use the lockdown period to break the law in his weekly newsletter to the nation, and he had choice words for those who are preying on the weak and vulnerable: There is no excuse. And it will not be tolerated.
He slammed those who “are seeking to exploit this crisis for their own sinister ends”.
He called the targeting of schools and Eskom infrastructure “a great indictment of our society”.
Dozens of schools have been burgled, trashed or burnt to the ground.
“When the lockdown is lifted and learning resumes, thousands of our children will have no school to return to, depriving them of the right to education. Eskom has also reported an increase in cable theft and vandalism of its infrastructure since the lockdown began, resulting in power supply interruptions and damage that will cost a considerable amount to repair,” he said.
“That public property is being vandalised while the entire country is experiencing hardship because of the lockdown, is a demonstration of utter disrespect and disregard for the majority of South Africans who are law-abiding.
“It is despicable that criminals are using this period of the lockdown as a cover to break the law at a time when our law-enforcement authorities are occupied with supporting the national effort to contain the pandemic.”
But vandalising public property wasn’t the worst of it – criminals are also preying on the weak and vulnerable, he said:
• Our hearts go out to the family of Mama Ngenzeni Zuma who was raped and killed in KwaZulu-Natal last month by men who allegedly pretended to be soldiers to gain entry into her home;
• We feel the pain of the family of 14-year-old Simphiwe Sibeko who went missing from her Soweto home, and whose body was found dumped in bushes last week; and
• As a nation, we are saddened at the death of Constable Percy Ramalepe who was shot and killed while attending to a domestic violence call in Johannesburg last week.
“It is disturbing that during a time of such immense difficulty for our country, women and girls are being terrorised inside their own homes, forcing them to make desperate calls for help,” he said, adding that the number of calls to the GBV National Command Centre had increased since the lockdown began on March 27.
And this scourge hasn’t just been a domestic problem – in some countries, the number of women calling support services has doubled, the UN said.
South Africa had heeded the call to prioritise gender-based violence in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and would continue to implement the emergency response plan to end gender-based violence that was announced last year.
Ramaphosa reiterated that support services to vulnerable women and children remained operational throughout the lockdown, including psychosocial services like counselling for women and children, sheltering and places of safety, and medicolegal services in cases of sexual violence.
The Gender-Based Violence National Command Centre remains operational.
He has directed Police Minister Bheki Cele to ensure that family violence, child protection and sexual offences units were reinforced at police stations during the lockdown and beyond.
“We recognise since people may not leave their homes, women and children in abusive situations are vulnerable. Survivors of violence may not have access to phones or airtime, or public transport to take them to a police station, shelter or a doctor.
To this effect the interim steering committee on gender-based violence and femicide, in consultation with civil society organisations is developing guidelines and protocols for the management of gender-based violence management in the context of Covid-19,” he said.
Ramaphosa commended law-enforcement officials for swiftly arresting suspects in the recent murders of the two women. They should also be commended for arresting and charging 148 suspects for crimes of gender-based violence since the start of the lockdown.
“We are aware that the restrictions that have been placed on people’s movement and the confinement to their homes is a frustration for many.
But there is no excuse, nor will there ever be any excuse, for violence – against women, children, the elderly, members of the LGBTQI+ community, foreign nationals, not against anyone.
“Vandalism of public property and key economic infrastructure will not be tolerated. We call upon communities to play their part in reporting such acts, because they seldom take place in the absence of witnesses.
“When communities allow themselves to be passive bystanders when they witness crime, they become party to the sabotage that ultimately disadvantages ourselves, our children and our communities.”
He had a message for those “callous criminals” who think they can take advantage: “The criminal justice system is not on leave. Our law enforcement authorities will deal with those who transgress the law. You will be arrested, you will be tried and you will be put behind bars.”
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