The 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee had fled the devastation of Kyiv only to be stabbed to death on a commuter line in the United States. All that gruesome footage was seen on video. The tragedy was, on its face, senseless. No quarrel, no robbery, no motive that the authorities have yet explained, other than the murderer being heard muttering on CCTV footage “I got that white girl”.

It was impossible not to feel the injustice. Newspapers across the world reported on the murals, her studies, her dreams. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, offered to pay for murals in her honour. Politicians spoke of transit safety and mental health. On social media, strangers mourned her as though they had known her. And in truth, we did know her in the way one knows a type: the earnest migrant, hard-working, hopeful, paying her dues in a new land. The human face behind the abstraction of “refugee crisis” which the West is facing.

But as South Africans, one can’t help finding a grim familiarity. The details are different, the accent is not the same, yet the rhythm of the story is instantly recognisable. A woman caught unawares in a place that should have been safe. A sudden act of brutality against a vulnerable person and now a family left mourning. For us as South Africans, this is not unusual. It is routine.

Which is why, in remembering Zarutska, I think we owe it to ourselves to remember our own dead. Not because her life was worth less, it was worth just as much, but because the mourning she received abroad is a tribute denied to too many women here at home.

The familiar pattern

Consider, for instance, Thimna Kuze, a 13-year-old girl from Khayelitsha. In March 2023 she went to sleep at a friend’s house. The next day she was found lifeless in a shack, with injuries no child should ever bear. Her case has been delayed repeatedly due to equipment failures, overbooked courts, endless postponements. The man accused of her rape and murder sits in prison while the calendar drags on, justice endlessly deferred. Thimna’s name rarely makes the national news. There is no outpouring of solidarity from foreign politicians. The silence is deafening.

Or take Nadia Lotz, a mother of three, murdered in 2023 allegedly by her partner of fourteen years. According to testimony, he slit her throat in a car and stabbed her repeatedly as she tried to escape. Her trial too has stuttered forward in increments. The family waits. The children grow up with a hole where their mother used to be. And society shrugs.

And then there is Nosiphiwo James, a 29-year-old stabbed to death with a screwdriver by her boyfriend in Khayelitsha,. She left behind two young children. Action Society had to employ private investigators to track down the fugitive partner when police resources faltered. An NGO is hiring detectives so that the state can do its job.

These three names are only a sample. There are many more: Melany Stoffels, killed with a hammer while pregnant; Aster, a 14-year-old girl raped by a pastor; little Poppy, four years old, allegedly molested by the man who was supposed to drive her to crèche. Each story could fill its own article. Each is part of a grim picture that runs through our daily life, often unnoticed, except by the families who must endure the long slog through a justice system that seems structurally incapable of urgency.

Violence without spectacle

Why do some deaths become headlines while others remain footnotes? Partly, it’s geography. Americans take notice when violence erupts on their own commuter trains, because public transport is not supposed to be a killing field. A refugee killed on U.S. soil makes for a global morality tale. But a woman strangled in a shack in Mfuleni? That is too ordinary. Too common to stir outrage beyond her community.

The irony is that South Africa’s epidemic of gender-based violence dwarfs the isolated incident in Charlotte. According to the South African Police Service’s own figures, over 10 000 cases of rape are reported each quarter. That’s not counting the vast number that go unreported. Murders of women and children are rising, not falling. The problem is therefore not sporadic. It is systemic.

And yet, the rhythm of response is numbing. A hashtag. A speech from the president on Women’s Day. A commission of inquiry here, a “strategic plan” there. But the drumbeat of violence continues. It seems we are caught between over-familiarity and helplessness. The individual cases blur into statistics. The state says the right things but delivers little. Public outrage spikes and then subsides. The victims themselves become interchangeable, except to those who knew them.

The broken machinery of justice

What is striking about the South African cases is not only the brutality of the crimes but the chronic dysfunction that follows. Delays are standard. Evidence goes missing. Dockets vanish. Postponement is the norm, not the exception. Each week Action Society attends court with grieving families who are expected to show up again and again, to relive the trauma, only to be told to come back in six months. In the meantime, suspects apply for bail, witnesses lose heart, and families gain no closure.

Compare this to the swiftness with which Zarutska’s alleged killer was arrested and charged. Within days the U.S. Justice Department had filed federal charges under a special statute for violence on mass transit. Surveillance footage was released. There is every indication the case will proceed to trial without the delays that we treat as inevitable.

One could argue that America is wealthier, better resourced, more efficient. True enough. But resources alone do not explain the difference. Our courts are not poor by African standards. The deeper problem is cultural: a state apparatus that does not view the timely prosecution of violence against women and children as a matter of urgent priority. Cases involving poor women languish.

What can be done?

The easy answer is to say “more policing” or “harsher sentences.” Politicians love these soundbites. But we already have harsh sentences on the books. The problem is not that our laws are weak. It is that they are not enforced with consistency or speed. Justice delayed is justice denied, and in South Africa justice is almost always delayed.

That is why NGOs like Action Society have become crucial. We monitor cases, pressure prosecutors, oppose bail applications, and, in some instances, hire private investigators. This is extraordinary: in a functioning state, it would be the role of the police and prosecutors to support families, not private entities. Yet without Action Society and many other NGOs, many families would be left in the dark, unable even to track where their case stands.

What is needed is not another “strategic framework” but a relentless focus on competence. Functioning forensic labs. Dockets that don’t vanish. Courts that prioritise serious cases. Prosecutors who communicate with families. And above all, a political culture that recognises the crisis for what it is: not an unfortunate by-product of poverty, but a central test of our constitutional democracy.

So yes, mourn for Iryna Zarutska. But let us not allow the sympathy to remain at arm’s length, as though violence against women were a foreign tragedy. It is our daily reality. Thimna Kuze, Nadia Lotz, Nosiphiwo James: these names should be as present in our national conscience as Zarutska’s is in America’s. Their families deserve more than silence. They deserve justice, and they deserve to know that society has not looked away.

The philosopher Hannah Arendt once wrote about the “banality of evil,” the way horror becomes normal when it is repeated often enough. South Africa risks living in that condition permanently: a society where the slaughter of women and children barely registers. To resist that banality requires more than outrage. It requires attention, persistence, and the willingness to demand that our state perform its most basic duty.

When the headlines about Zarutska fade, and they will, the violence here will continue. The question is whether we are prepared to confront it with the seriousness it demands, or whether we will go on consigning our dead to the margins of memory.

Written by Juanita du Preez, an activist against violence against women and children and spokesperson for Action Society, a civil rights organisation founded in 2019, focusing on civil rights, community safety, and crime prevention.

Republished with permission from The Daily Friend. The original article can be found here.

The post When remembering Iryna Zarutska, spare a thought for SA’s GBV victims appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

The march was under the banner of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU), supported by COSATU and the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa.

The marchers gathered in their signature red regalia at Burgers Park and marched to the office of the National Commissioner of Police. They delivered a memorandum to demand that senior officers found guilty of sexual offences be suspended.

The protest follows an incident in March at Tshwane Training College. A 59-year-old instructor is accused of locking a 20-year-old trainee in his office and threatening her with disciplinary action if she did not have sex with him.

He was arrested. He appeared at Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on 23 May and was granted R8,000 bail.

POPCRU first deputy president Mosadiwamaje Veronica Mokokong said the union had received anonymous calls from trainees and police officers alleging sexual harassment and rape.

“They are afraid to open cases. Thanks God this student was bold enough to open a case,” she said.

COSATU general secretary Solly Phetoe said perpetrators of sexual offence remained on duty. “Those who are implicated must be suspended with immediate effect,” he said.

Two female officers from Booysens police station, who joined the march, spoke to GroundUp on condition of anonymity.

“Our workplace is toxic. They tell us to sleep with them. If we don’t, they tell us they can get us fired,” said one.

The other officer said, “They [supervisors] also promise to promote you if you sleep with them, but it doesn’t even happen.”

A police trainee told GroundUp that certain trainers failed trainees who refused to have sex with them.

The memorandum called for urgent investigations into sexual abuse and harassment cases by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate and strict vetting of senior officers and college administrators.

Acting Deputy National Police Commissioner Lineo Nkhuoa accepted the memo and promised to respond in 14 days. She said in the past five years there had been 43 dismissals for rape.

Written by Silver Sibiya for GroundUp and republished with permission. The original article can be found here.

The post Police officers protest against rape and sexual harassment in their ranks appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

It is against this backdrop that the country is increasing national efforts, under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, to eliminate GBV from every corner of society, including from the very institutions mandated to protect and serve. Ramaphosa, since the launch of the Emergency Action Plan on GBV in 2019, has called for a “whole-of-society” effort to combat violence against women and children.

“We commend the removal of the instructor immediately, with the eventual detention of him in question,” said Police Minister Senzo Mchunu.

“An act of this nature is criminal…and stands as an obscene abuse of office and gross violations of the very trust vested into those expected to mould and coach the next policeman or policewoman.”

The suspect was apprehended and will appear in court soon. The acting FCS has been praised on for swift medical, emotive, and psychological assistance to the trainee.

This is not an isolated incident, however. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) statistics indicate that from April 2022 to March 2023, 122 sexual assault and rape cases were reported against SAPS members. Although there are cases involving officers who were off-duty, a number have occurred in police stations or training facilities – areas that should be safe havens for vulnerable people.

Furthermore, the SAPS has faced increasing pressure to address internal misbehaviour. During 2023 alone, at least 16 SAPS members were arrested by other members for sexual crimes, including rape. These include counts such as where the suspects utilized rank, a firearm, or authority to threaten victims.

Stakeholders such as the Commission for Gender Equality, civil society groups like Sonke Gender Justice, and the National Shelter Movement have all welcomed the swift action taken by the police leadership in the trainee case.

“This case is emblematic of the larger rot we’ve been trying to address – abuse of power cloaked in uniforms,” said Lisa Vetten, a well-known GBV researcher. “But what’s different here is that the system responded quickly and publicly.”

In addition to arrest and prosecution, institutional reform in SAPS training academies is also now long overdue. Specialists hold the view that GBV awareness, gender sensitivity, and ethics training must be mandatory for both trainers and recruits. Whistleblower protection systems, CCTV surveillance in residential areas, and independent complaint hotlines must be strengthened so that trainees do not fear reporting abuse.

Gender-based violence has been labelled the “second pandemic” in South Africa. The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) reports that one in three South African women has suffered physical or sexual violence in her lifetime. Although the government has invested billions in combating GBV, the task is daunting, particularly when those responsible for safeguarding citizens are involved in these offenses.

President Ramaphosa said in his February 2025 State of the Nation Address that “no corner of our society may be immune from accountability. Law enforcement has to set an example”.

Developments at Tshwane Academy serve as both stark reminders and a fresh chance to make good on that vow.

For GBV assistance, dial the GBV Command Centre at 0800 428 428 or 1207867# for a call-back.

The post SAPS trainer arrested in wake-up call in fight against gender-based violence appeared first on ProtectionWeb.

The question posed by Gana further inquired on the total number of cases which the National Prosecuting Authority refused to prosecute. However, Mchunu responded that “the South African Police Service (SAPS) cannot determine the total number of cases that the National Prosecuting Authority refused to prosecute in 2023/24.”

The Minister’s reply further revealed a total of 4 153 alleged incidents of wrongful arrest were registered with SAPS, and they had received claims totalling R2 241 082 675. Mchunu noted however, that “this is not the amount that would potentially be paid to claimants.”

Gana additionally posed the question of “what total number of suspects arrested during shootouts with the SAPS have been released due to insufficient evidence in the 2013 to 2023 financial years?” Mchunu’s reply additionally revealed the painstaking process officers used to management case documents.

The Minister noted this information “is not readily available on the Case Administration System (CAS)/Investigate Case Docket Management System (ICDMS),” and a detailed analysis would need to be conducted, per station, to provide this information.

“Case dockets will have to be extracted from archives and manually perused to identify the cases that relate to this request. This will be an extremely time-consuming exercise, which, given the operational policing requirement, would not be practical, as it will divert critical resources, thereby impacting negatively on service delivery,” noted the Minister

In a statement issued in response, Gana reiterated the “need for more detectives to ensure that all credible cases reach their natural conclusion, which is to see violent criminals in prison for rehabilitation.” Further, the statement noted the closure of rape cases as an issue of great concern, particularly given the prevalence of gender-based violence committed against women.

Noting previous responses by the Minister revealing SAPS had 8 594 vacant detective posts, Gana stated that “the women and men in blue are overstretched,” and this would naturally lead to officers missing key evidence at times.

“It is therefore vital that a full complement of detectives is recruited in order to ensure that there is a full detective service that is able to ensure that heinous crimes such as rape, murder and hijacking are investigated and prosecuted,” said Gana.

The post SAPS withdraws 1 416 rape cases, with 4 153 wrongful arrests registered in 2023/24 appeared first on ProtectionWeb.