ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on men to play a greater role in combating gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa.
Ramaphosa was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an ANC campaign event in Woodmead, Johannesburg, on Monday.
His comments come amid renewed concern over the deaths of nine women whose bodies were discovered in different parts of Ekurhuleni in recent weeks. Eight of the victims have been identified, while one remains unidentified.
Ramaphosa says the responsibility for addressing GBVF extends beyond women and requires action from men and society as a whole.
“The message must also go to men; men must continue respecting women, honouring women. The women of the country are the builders of the nation,” he said.
He described gender-based violence as a national crisis and said government would increase resources and use technology to address the fear experienced by women.
“We are going to even be deploying more money, more resources, more technology to ensure that we deal with the fear that women are now subjected to,” Ramaphosa said.
The government’s Inter-Ministerial Committee on GBVF has approved a Comprehensive Emergency Strategy following the killings in Ekurhuleni. A specialised multidisciplinary investigation team has also been elevated and is being coordinated at a higher level within the police.
ANC candidate lists
Ramaphosa also addressed concerns surrounding the ANC's candidate lists for the upcoming local government elections.
The Electoral Court dismissed the ANC's application on 16 September challenging the exclusion of 181 candidates after the party failed to complete the final submission of candidate information before the deadline.
The ANC has attributed the problem to technical issues, while the Electoral Commission of South Africa has disputed the claim and maintained that the submission requirements were not met by the deadline.
Ramaphosa says the party is discussing the matter and will seek to establish what went wrong.
“Whenever these things happen, we need to find out why and how it happened and where accountability is required; accountability will be there,” he said.
The 2026 Local Government Elections are scheduled for 4 November.