Cele should be proactive, not reactive

Hillary Gardee, Nosicelo Mtebeni, Uyinene Mrwetyana, Tshegofatso Pule and Ndivhuwo Munyai are just some of the faces and victims of a toxic violent scourge that continues to put this country to shame.

The brutal murder of Gardee, 28, the daughter of former EFF secretary-general and attorney Godrich Gardee, has sadly reminded us of how things have not changed for women and children in SA. The death toll just keeps rising.

Though cases of violence against women and children happen daily across the country, few of them are reported as is the case with the victims named here, and even fewer get to win the battle for justice.

In January, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law several amendments to legislation aimed at strengthening efforts to end gender-based violence (GBV). The amendments came about as a result of a plan adopted during a summit against GBV and femicide in 2018.

What this effectively means is that it took nearly five years to get legislation passed in an ongoing crisis. In that period the death toll of the victims of the scourge simply kept rising, and so it continues with Gardee being the latest.

Indeed, a functioning criminal justice system will play an important role in the fight against GBV and therefore the change in legislation will aid this. However, there are glaring shortcomings that must be addressed in response to the crisis, particularly in the police work.

After the discovery of Gardee's body on Tuesday, police minister Bheki Cele went to the scene of her killing and gave investigators less than 72 hours to find leads that would result in arrests.

His statement and visit to the crime scene will have done nothing to restore public confidence in policing and give hope to the families of the many victims of GBV. It was simply a case of too little effort too late. Gardee went missing on Friday while shopping with her three year-old daughter and Cele did not show the same vigour and energy to summon investigators to find clues to her whereabouts within the first 72 hours.

There are too many other women and children who have been reported missing to police and are yet to be found. What will he say to their families?

It would be folly for the government to set an ambition to end gender-based violence but fail to address obvious shortcomings.