Commission for Gender Equality calls for urgent action following discovery of five women’s bodies in Kempton Park

On 14 September, South Africans woke to media reports concerning the discovery of the bodies of five women in Kempton Park.

The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) extends its heartfelt condolences to all families of the deceased persons.  The CGE emphasises that the constitutional right to equality requires more than prosecuting perpetrators after women have been killed. The State has a responsibility to create conditions in which women can participate equally and freely in public life. A society in which women have to avoid certain roads, stop exercising outdoors, change their working hours, travel only in groups, or constantly share their location to feel safe is not a society in which women enjoy substantive equality. 

CGE stresses that women should not have to be killed before an area receives heightened attention. The CGE calls for the affected locations in Kempton Park to be subjected to an urgent safety audit involving the South African Police Service (SAPS), Municipality, transport authorities and community safety structures. This should include consideration of lighting, surveillance, pedestrian routes, public transport points, vacant or poorly monitored spaces, police visibility and the accessibility of emergency assistance.

These deaths are indicative that women in South Africa continue to face environments in which their ordinary freedom of movement can become a matter of life and death. Women should be able to run, walk to work, use public transport, return home, visit friends and participate in community life without having to calculate whether an ordinary activity could place their lives at risk.

The CGE makes a clarion call to the residents of Kempton Park to work with the police and provide any information that may assist in identifying the perpetrator(s) responsible for these heinous crimes

Enquiries:
Javu Baloyi - Spokesperson
Cell: 083 579 3306
Email: media@cge.org.za

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