Cele sends stern warning to officers who drop ball on GBV
Police Minister Bheki Cele has slammed officers who refuse to assist victims of gender-based violence when they seek help at a police station.
“Police are not fashion advisors, their job is to make sure that they arrest. We will be tough on police who don’t do their jobs.
“It is not their job to tell women that you were not supposed to dress like that, if you dress like this then anything will happen to you.”
Gender-based violence cost the lives of at least 29 women June, with Cele saying police managed to arrest all the suspects involved in the various killings.
“Our June month, for some reason, was a terrible terrible month. We lost almost 29 women in one month who were killed.
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“Everybody that committed that crime was arrested and everybody had some relationship with the victim.”
Cele was speaking at the official launch of Women’s Month in Tshwane on Thursday.
Women’s Month, which is celebrated in August, comes amid an increase in femicide and violence against women.
A study, conducted by the University of South Africa (Unisa), showed that violence against women shot up by 37% at the start of the lockdown in March.