Cyril Ramaphosa’s golf outing sparks outrage as SA reels from deadly women’s killings

President Cyril Ramaphosa said Tuesday he had ordered a clean-up of high-risk municipal areas and a crackdown on alcohol abuse to protect women after a series of murders has sparked a national outcry.

The discovery of the bodies of 11 women dumped in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, since mid-July has reignited alarm over persistently high levels of gender-based violence.

The nation is angry. The women of South Africa are angry. Their anger is justified. I share that anger.

Ramaphosa said in a national address.

Many of the victims were in their 20s and 30s, with some stripped of their clothes and showing signs of sexual assault.

Even though gender-based violence had been declared a national disaster last year, the government had failed women, Ramaphosa said, announcing a new raft of government measures with deadlines.

Police and prosecutors had been instructed to reopen unresolved cases involving women and children and to fast-track existing cases, prioritising gender-based violence and femicide.