Lesufi reports GBVF gains as forensic audit remains unfinished
Gauteng reports progress on its GBVF response, with 21 directives completed and a forensic backlog assessment targeted for early November.
Gauteng has completed 21 of the 67 directives in its response to gender-based violence and femicide, Premier Panyaza Lesufi said on Sunday, while an assessment of its forensic backlog remains outstanding.
The Citizen reported that Lesufi's 1 November briefing put another 38 directives in progress and eight yet to start. Four measures that had shown no progress at the mid-October review had since moved into implementation.
The province is targeting early November to establish the size and age of its forensic backlog. Lesufi also reported that crime kits collected from Thuthuzela Care Centres across Gauteng's five districts had been submitted to the Forensic Science Laboratory.
Investigating officers must now take crime kits to medical examinations to prevent evidence being left behind, according to the report.
From commitments to delivery
The update follows the provincial response announced on 2 October after President Cyril Ramaphosa's national intervention. At that stage, Gauteng said it would send 1,022 GBV brigades into 122 high-risk police precincts and add 56 social workers.
Its plan prioritised support for police stations recording the highest numbers of rape cases, alongside victim support and evidence preservation. Municipalities were tasked with identifying unsafe public spaces, including broken streetlights, overgrown areas and poorly secured parks.
The government's official notice for Sunday's briefing identified a 60-day audit of unresolved cases involving women and children and 90-day recovery plans for priority and stalled cases among the interventions being assessed.