“I may not be able to answer the question of whether we are progressing or regressing, but I do know that we are at a very low end in terms of brokenness in the dignity or indignity with which women and children are being treated in this country at this moment. It has gone way beyond a question of criminality and crime,” Deputy Chairperson of the National Planning Commission (NPC), Professor Tinyiko Maluleke, told SAnews, during a recent interview.

As an independent advisory body appointed by the President, the NPC is tasked with advising government and Parliament on matters pertaining to the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030.

The Deputy Chairperson said the country has come to a point where one cannot merely say that the police must do their work.

“Of course, the police must do their job. When young mothers are getting involved in the abuse of their own children and fathers are getting involved in the abuse of their own children at the scale at which we are witnessing in this country, there is something much more deeper that is broken. We speak of social cohesion and maybe this is a devastating illustration of the lack of it,” he told SAnews.

Expanding on whether the country has made progress in tackling women’s issues, Maluleke said this was a mixed bag, adding that the establishment of a Ministry of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) as well as a good number of women in Parliament, were good signs.

He also welcomed the fact that the country has the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan (GBVF-NSP) which sets out to provide a cohesive strategic framework to guide the national response to gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

“But we are currently confronted with a very worrying situation in which South African society seems to be turning against women. There’s almost a low-intensity war against women. If you look at the numbers of women who are victims of rape and violence, the numbers are simply mind-boggling as to what actually is happening in our country.”

At the release of the fourth quarterly crime statistics for the period 1 January – 31 March 2025, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said that rape cases had increased with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal contributing 19.1% and 19.9% respectively to the national total.

However, decreases in rape statistics were recorded in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, and the Western Cape.

This as the police acknowledged that gender-based violence and femicide affects all genders, adding that women remain disproportionately affected by rape, assault GBH, and murder

Additionally, a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study conducted in 2024 revealed that one in three women in South Africa have experienced physical intimate partner violence in their lifetime. According to the report, between July and September 2024, 957 women were murdered, 1 567 survived attempted murders, and 14 366 were assaulted, resulting in grievous bodily harm. In addition, 10 191 cases of rape were reported during this period.

Maluleke also bemoaned the fact that “we have also become a society that is turning or eating its own children if you like, because children are being sold, raped, killed at very high and abnormal rates.”

“There is something broken in our society when it comes to the relationship between men and women; between society and children; men and children; women and children, because some of the cases indicate that.”

In his reflections of Women’s Month, Maluleke said that in South Africa, the face of unemployment and poverty tends to be that of a woman – adding that the elimination of poverty, inequality and employment are the key objectives of the NDP.

“The NDP is not very vocal or very explicit on gender issues in general. It’s not very explicit but to the extent that the NDP is about the elimination of inequality, the ending of poverty and unemployment, it is, at least conscious of the people who are the faces of these problems.”

The commission is the custodian of the NDP.

“The face[s] of unemployment, the face[s] of poverty in this country are women. To that extent, there is an acknowledgement of the problems that affect women but perhaps not enough explicit reference to the broader gender issues that we have come to understand and appreciate very well now. [This] includes violence against women, issues of unequal pay and work that is not regarded as work and therefore unpaid work which tends to be done by women.”

As the country celebrated the 30th anniversary of the first official National Women’s Day on 09 August 2025, Maluleke said it is regrettable that the NDP did not anticipate the levels of violence against women.

“The levels of violence against women have exploded in our faces over the past decade or so and it is indeed regrettable that the NDP could not anticipate this problem to the extent that it has come.

“But I think it is a problem that has since been acknowledged by government and by society at large. There are plans and strategies that have since been developed and that has never been our problem as a country. We don’t lack plans and strategies. We just don’t implement as comprehensibly [and] as constantly as possible,” he explained.

Greater emphasis on women

On whether the NDP of the future will place greater emphasis on women’s issues, he said the existence of the DWYPD is a “massive acknowledgement” and attempt to address the problem.

“The current NDP expires in 2030, and plans are already afoot, certainly conversations have started within the National Planning Commission, about the next plan beyond 2030. I cannot imagine a plan beyond 2030 that does not foreground and not merely include but actually foreground issues such as violence against women and all the issues of inequality between men and women in society that we have come to appreciate so well,” he explained.

He said issues of gender have become as important as issues of race which were perhaps much more foregrounded in the period of the birth of the new democracy.

This as in June, the Commission said it was conducting feminist-led gender-mainstreaming workshops, in search of comprehensive responses to the current fate and state of women and youth.

The workshops were revealing a people “anxious and very concerned with the levels of violence and the continued non-representation of women’s voices at all the levels.”

“Sometimes you have the numbers of women but usually they don’t have roles that are influential or that can change the direction of the country. The question of representativity has now gone beyond numbers. I spoke about the number of women in Parliament but that in itself is not enough. We are beginning to hear voices that are speaking out against the cliché and superficial nature of just numbers. Those are just some of the voices we are hearing.

“We are also realising that class has also become a very important matter in the country. Class in general but also class among and between women is also an issue that needs attention.

“It doesn’t help to have one class of women attempting to represent all classes of women. The same goes for other groups in society. So, intersectionality, inclusion, all of these issues have become much more paramount, and people are beginning to be rather rigorous in discussing them because they want to move beyond the numbers game.”

Asked about the status of women living with disabilities, Maluleke said they are among the most vulnerable in society in terms of inclusivity.

“Certainly, there is room in critical national processes to be more inclusive but also in ordinary day to day engagements and activities.”

Asked what his message to women this month would be, he said: “My message is for the sake of women who marched in 1956. We owe it to them not to give up, but also, we owe it to them to have policies and structures that affirm the dignity of women in this country and their role.

“The message to the women themselves is one of saying thank you. Thank you for your leadership, and thank you for your largely uncelebrated, unremarked but crucial role for the coherence of our society, but also for the economy of this country.
“Women are the backbone of the economy of this country because of the work they do, most of which is not recognised as such. Thank you to the women of the country,” he said.

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One such unit, based in Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal, has been singled out for its commitment to tackling gender-based violence and bringing serial offenders to justice.

Bringing a Serial Rapist to Justice

Between 2014 and 2022, 38-year-old Mzamo Gumede terrorised women in the Empangeni area, raping at least ten victims. His youngest was a 17-year-old girl. Gumede targeted women walking alone, threatening them with either a firearm or a knife before dragging them into nearby bushes to commit the assaults.

Investigators from the Empangeni FCS, led by Lieutenant Colonel Bongiwe Sosibo, painstakingly pieced together evidence, combining forensic results with detailed descriptions from survivors. Their persistence led to Gumede’s identification and arrest.

On 22 October 2024, the Mtubatuba High Court sentenced him to ten life terms for rape, plus 15 years for robbery. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm and his name was added to the National Register for Sex Offenders.

A Record of Results

In the past year alone, the Empangeni FCS unit has secured 30 convictions. Of these, 20 resulted in life sentences, while the remaining ten offenders received a combined total of 275 years in prison.

Lieutenant Colonel Sosibo and her team were praised for their tireless work, often involving long hours and challenging conditions, in pursuit of justice.

The Role of FCS Units

FCS units were established within SAPS to focus on crimes against women, children and other vulnerable groups. They have been described as a crucial development in the fight against gender-based violence, particularly in cases such as rape, which often occur in secluded areas or between acquaintances, making prevention difficult.

Police officials said the Empangeni FCS’s record demonstrates how specialised investigative capacity can make a significant difference in securing justice for victims and helping to restore confidence in law enforcement.

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The service highlighted Warrant Officer Charlene Van der Berg, the only female police diver attached to the Water Police and Diving Services Unit in Sedibeng, Gauteng province.

Forty-two-year-old van der Berg hails from Springs and joined the Service in 2002 as a student constable. She underwent a stint in the SAPS Bike Squad before joining the Water Wing after completing a Commercial Divers Level IV Course in 2014.

As a police diver, van der Berg’s duties include attending to various water related incidents including search and rescue operations. Van der Berg said the majority of her work as a police diver takes place in water with zero visibility. She added that she uses her sense of touch, often in depths shallower than 10 metres.

“I am required to enter water conditions that are extreme or challenging. If there is a potential to save a life I never hesitate to jump in”, said van der Berg.

To date, van der Berg accumulated about 120 dives which calculates roughly to 64.5 hours. This includes diving operations to recover bodies, firearms and exhibits along with search and rescue missions and training exercises.

In 2016, van der Berg played an instrumental role as part of the team that was deployed for a search and rescue operation during the flash floods in Johannesburg. During this incident, several vehicles were swept away by strong currents, and people lost their lives. The team managed to rescue several people and retrieved vehicles.

In 2018 van der Berg and her colleagues were also deployed to assist during the flash floods in the Free State province. They rescued children from a bus which was stuck in a low-lying bridge on a flooded road and put their lives at risk in a fast-flowing water to save the lives of a father and his daughter by means of rope work. The team also rescued three men stranded on top of a vehicle while drifting off in the fast-flowing water.

Van der Berg was also part of the team of six members who were awarded with monetary awards and commendation certificates for the sterling work done and putting their lives at risk to rescue and save lives during the flash floods, the SAPS said.

“If I had to think of all the dangers that I sometimes experienced, I will not be doing what I am doing if it is not my calling. I am committed and dedicated to my work, I care for people and their families. I would also not hesitate to dive to save a life in danger”, van der Berg said.

Throughout her career, van der Berg said even if her job is about risking her life, facing danger of the unknown when diving in the dark water, she will continue doing it.

“After my first dive I knew I had not only found my calling; I had also discovered a world full of unlimited possibilities. I am very proud to be a member of the SAPS Water and Diving Services and to perform diving duties. But the most rewarding part of my job as a police diver is bringing closures to families by reuniting them with their loved ones”, she said.

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Lieutenant Colonel Kgothatso Khunou is the first African female chief helicopter pilot attached to the SAPS Airwing in the Free State and one of 17 female pilots nationwide.

Living up to her first name as Kgothatso, which means ‘courage’, loosely translated from Setswana, she hails from the “dusty streets of Rustenburg”, as she fondly describes her humble upbringing as a “village girl”. Khunou says a career in aviation found her and not the other way around. As a teenager, Khunou dreamt of following a career in science.

In 2010, the Royal Bafokeng Administration offered Khunou a scholarship to obtain a commercial pilot license, just shortly after she obtained a National Diploma in Biotechnology. Despite a fear of flying, Khunou jumped at the opportunity. This ultimately led her to join the SAPS in 2014 as a junior pilot at the rank of warrant officer.

As a helicopter pilot, Khunou’s duties include operational flights, providing aerial support as requested from ground units, along with stock theft and stolen vehicle searches and assisting with search and rescue operations.

Khunou is currently deployed to Operation Vala Umgodi, which continues to register what the SAPS said is commendable progress in dealing decisively with illicit mining activities across the country.

She played a pivotal role in a recent women-led operation on 1 August 2024, when her team arrested 178 illicit miners, recovered over 400 pendukas and various other illicit mining equipment during the operation in Benoni.

“When you set goals, always tell yourself that the sky is not even the limit. I was once afraid of flying, but now I serve my country fearlessly as a SAPS helicopter pilot,” said Khunou.

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