Premier Job Mokgoro and various roleplayers in the province held a webinar on Tuesday to discuss the violence meted out against the most vulnerable group of people in society. His statements follow numerous reports of various crimes which include rape and murder of women and children in the province since the national lockdown was declared in March. 

In his address, Mokgoro condemned the abuse, abduction, and killing of women and children. Mokgoro says the safety and protection of women should be society’s number one priority.

In July, OFM News reported that the 25-year-old teacher Khumontle Mokgosi was found murdered at her home in the Magong Village near Mogwase, with her hands and feet tied. It's believed she was strangled. Another woman who was a police officer was found killed at home in the North West in the same month. The 41-year-old Sergeant Martha Mamoitoyi Bouwer was found in a pool of blood with multiple injuries in Kanana near Orkney outside Klerksdorp. 

On Monday, OFM News reported that an 18-year-old teenage girl, also in Kanana, was allegedly raped by three suspects, who were allegedly wearing balaclavas.

Premier Mokgoro challenged the webinar attendants to ensure that Tuesday's engagement produces tangible recommendations and programmes against gender-based violence. He added that recommendations and programmes must be integrated into the provincial government’s planning to ensure that implementation, monitoring, and reporting takes place. 

Mokgoro also reiterated the provincial government’s commitment towards the safety and protection of women, young girls and all other vulnerable groups against all forms of violence, and urged the police and courts to act decisively against all acts of gender-based violence. The webinar was arranged by the office on the Status of Women and Rights of the Children in the Office of the Premier to mark Women’s Month.

OFM News