A senior SAPS lieutenant-general faces allegations of sexually grooming a 16-year-old girl and raping an 18-year-old woman, while businessman Lawrence Chamurwa Mudzinganyama faces an intimidation charge after allegedly threatening women at a Sandton restaurant.
The cases come with mounting public anger following the murders of nine women in Ekurhuleni. which have intensified scrutiny of South Africa’s response to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), nearly a year after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared it a national disaster.
The bodies of the women were discovered in Kempton Park, Olifantsfontein, KwaThema and Dawn Park in Ekurhuleni since July. However, only in the past week have police announced that the crimes were being investigated together by a specialised team.
Yesterday the 59-year-old lieutenant-general was arrested on allegations of sexually grooming the teenager between July and August and allegedly raping the 18-year-old at a Sandton hotel in May. He ais appearing in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court today.
Mudzinganyama handed himself over to police after a video circulated showing him allegedly threatening a group of women at a Sandton restaurant. He was released on warning and is expected to appear in the Randburg Magistrates’ Court on October 1.
The cases are unrelated and involve different allegations. They form part of a wider period of heightened police action, with Deputy National Police Commissioner Tebello Mosikili saying more than 350 people had been arrested for rape in the previous week.
The arrests - including three arrests in two of the Ekurhuleni cases - are only one part of the response promised when GBVF was classified as a national disaster.
But nearly a year after the national-disaster classification, the wider question remains: what has changed beyond individual arrests and emergency responses?
A national disaster
Last November during the G20 Social Summit in Ekurhuleni, Ramaphosa classified GBVF as a national disaster.
In December last year, Ramaphosa said the classification will allow for expanded access to shelters, safe spaces, psychosocial counselling and community-based prevention programmes.
“It will enable faster emergency resource allocation for survivor services, enhanced monitoring and reporting mechanisms, and strengthen oversight,” he said.
Ten months on, the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBVF) remains partially implemented, prompting civil society organisations to question the delays.
Addressing these delays, Sindisiwe Chikunga, Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, said an action plan was consolidated with Cabinet input and subsequently endorsed by civil society and academic institutions.
She added that the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure and the Inter-Ministerial Committee responsible for GBVF, together with alcohol and drug abuse, have been established.
“It talks about how we respond to gender-based violence and femicide and providing coordination, leadership, and holding departments accountable. It talks about issues of social cohesion.
Justice and prevention
"It talks about issues of justice and prevention.
"It talks about issues of women’s empowerment, economic empowerment, and lastly, research and knowledge management,” Chikunga said.
She said that a 100 Days Challenge launched together with the private sector revealed that certain areas, including isolated spots or abandoned houses, make women vulnerable to GBVF.
She added work was being done with young men to promote positive masculinity.
Anisa Moosa, national coordinator at the National Shelter Movement of SA (NSMSA), welcomed the policy, legislative, and coordination milestones achieved since GBVF classification, however she noted that the reality on the ground remains mixed.
“Shelters and frontline organisations continue to experience overwhelming demand for services, inadequate and inconsistent funding, limited access to psychosocial support, and challenges within the criminal justice system, including delays in investigations and prosecutions,” Moosa said.
“Survivors often still face barriers when seeking protection, accommodation, counselling and economic support.”
'Survivors haven't experienced full benefits'
She added that while the national framework has improved, many survivors have not yet experienced the full benefits of these interventions in their daily lives.
“Civil society organisations generally appreciate the progress made but believe implementation, accountability and sustainable resourcing remain the greatest challenges. Success must ultimately be measured by reductions in violence, improved survivor outcomes, and increased access to quality support services,” she said.
Lawyers for Human Rights said that NSP GBVF was developed through extensive consultation and designed as a comprehensive, multi-sectoral response to GBVF, addressing prevention, protection, support services, accountability, and access to justice.
“The question is why the plan remains inadequately implemented, funded, and resourced?
"Why are GBVF budgets not consistently ring-fenced and protected?
"Why do shelters, prevention programmes, support services, and specialised policing responses continue to operate under severe resource constraints?
"And where is the accountability when departments fail to fulfil their obligations? We cannot stand for more gimmicks and press statements talking about the issue. We need action. We have been saying this ad nauseam since 2018,” they said in a statement.
Dr Zubeda Dangor, a clinical psychologist, founder of Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development, and a member of the National Council for GBVF, said from the side of civil society and academic institutions represented on the council, the process of finalising the National Action Plan was still under way.
She is one of the seven members of the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NC-GBVF) appointed by Ramaphosa for a period of three years from August 1, 2026 to July 31, 2029.
Dangor urged government departments and other structures to join forces with the council, saying that working together through one coordinating body will reduce duplication, make better use of limited resources, and ensure that progress is measured by what survivors experience on the ground.
Things are happening on the ground
Addressing the issue of resource allocation in Gauteng to fight GBVF, Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the province pooled resources from municipalities, including vehicles, and made them available to law-enforcement to fight crime, including GBVF.
He added that the province has almost 16 000 new CCTV cameras for investigations across Gauteng, and the Gauteng Panic Button has been established.
“Almost 139 drones are now being used in Gauteng in areas where police cannot go into because it is congested. Gauteng has also made available two helicopters,” he said.
He said the province has also invested in a fingerprint system to identify people even if the body is decomposed.
Lesufi added that almost 9 000 wardens have been handed over to be supervised by the police, as a force multiplier across Gauteng.
“We have deployed 6 000 gender-based violence brigades, who visit houses of victims of GBVF, support them in courts, and link them up with the Department of Social Development for social work support. More greenhouses have become available to GBV victims. Here, people volunteer their own houses to accommodate victims of violence overnight,” Lesufi said.
Moosa said any investment that improves victim protection and offender accountability was welcome.
She added that survivors and support organisations consistently emphasise that GBVF cannot be solved through enforcement measures alone.
“Victims want a more integrated response that includes faster access to protection orders, survivor-centred policing, improved processing and administration of GBVF cases, accessible shelters, trauma counselling, eco-nomic empowerment opportunities and stronger case management from reporting through to conviction,” she said.
Moosa highlighted that technology and policing resources are important, but equal investment is needed in prevention programmes, survivor sup-port services and long-term recovery interventions.
A national-disaster declaration was supposed to change how South Africa responds to GBVF. Nearly a year on, the state can point to arrests, new policing resources and new structures. But are women experiencing violence are seeing a system that works differently?
gcwalisile.khanyile@nationalmg.co.za