Speaking during a media briefing on Thursday 7 May in Mahikeng, without shedding light on the number of cases recorded so far, Job Mokgoro says the act against women and children has increased in a shocking way. 

He has called on perpetrators to desist from the violence and abuse against the vulnerable groups of people in the province. He has also further urged the South African Police Services (SAPS) to act decisively against perpetrators. Meanwhile, according to reports, at least 2,230 gender-based violence cases have been reported during the first week of the national lockdown.

Police Minister Bheki Cele has since said there are special units dedicated to deal with these cases. On the other hand, the Sonke Gender Justice said it anticipated this alarming number of gender-based violence complaints during the lockdown."With many countries under lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, violence against women remains a worldwide pandemic," it said.

Meanwhile, so far the province has exactly 17 active cases after 20 people out of 37 initial infections recovered from the virus with no deaths reported.

OFM News previously reported that the Promosa Community Health Center in Potchefstroom in the province has been shut down by the provincial health department. This after a professional nurse at the Health Center tested positive for Coronavirus. MEC of Health, Madoda Sambatha, said he received a report on Wednesday night 6 May about the incident and took decisive action to immediately close the facility to allow decontamination. He also said that a mobile clinic has been deployed to ensure access and continued service delivery until the decontamination of the facility. Sambatha added that all staff members at the facility will be placed under quarantine for the next 14 days.

OFM News