Ramaphosa’s pivotal plan to deploy social workers in police stations to combat GBV

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that social workers will be placed in police stations, to assist in the fight against gender-based violence. President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that the government will increase the number of social workers deployed to police stations, labelling the initiative a “game changer” in the battle against gender-based violence (GBV). His decision follows two days of heated debate in a joint session of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, where MPs scrutinised his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week.

Opposition parties strongly opposed several proposals, accusing Ramaphosa of making promises he repeatedly failed to fulfil. Ramaphosa said one of the most important developments in recent years was the mobilisation of society to tackle violence committed by men against women. “Faced with this pandemic of violence, South Africans came together to develop a National Strategic Plan against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide,” he said. GBV has been a pressing issue in South Africa, with scores of women and children killed almost daily by men, including those who are supposed to protect them.