KZN legislature denounces killing of women, calls for tougher action

Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature have denounced the killing of women in the country and urged tougher action to tackle the scourge.

This comes as alarm and outrage grip the country following the discovery of the bodies of murdered women on Johannesburg’s East Rand.

Speaking during a debate, Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of the Legislature, Hannah Lidgett, said it’s not good enough to advise women to restrict their movement to improve their safety while perpetrators continue to roam free.

She called on lawmakers to conduct oversight visits to police stations to ensure they take gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) cases seriously.

“This is a call to action to this house.

You are leaders and you need to stand up and take action against gender-based violence and femicide that is happening on a daily basis in our country.

This is not happening only in Kempton Park; this is happening on our doorstep, here in KZN.

We have the rape capital of the country here in KwaZulu-Natal.

So, it cannot be business as usual,” says Lidgett.

Related video| Concerns over killing of women: Thabo Limema weighs in Meanwhile, DA Member of Provincial Legislature (MPL), Sakhile Mngadi, says men in the country are collectively failing women as the violence continues.

In the debate, members of the legislature lamented the measures that women have to take to keep safe, while not enough focus is being placed on men being taught to protect women.

Mngadi called on men to fight toxic masculinity wherever it occurs.

Mngadi says, “Women in this country are dying and we are collectively failing them.

I say we deliberately, this legislature, government, our communities, yes, we as men are collectively failing women of this country.