PRETORIA– The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is calling on men in South Africa to lead the battle to protect women from violence and on all members of society to assist in reporting abuse and violence against women.
The call came following the stabbing to death of Sheila Mosidi Kopanye, who was a clerk at the Temba Magistrate’s Court, in Hammanskraal, about 50 kilometres north of here, last Friday. The 33-year-old mother was stabbed to death, allegedly by an ex-boyfriend in Mabopane, north of Pretoria.
Kopanye had earlier posted on her social media chilling evidence of her being followed against her will, which nobody acted on. The suspect has since handed himself over to the police.
The department has extended its heartfelt condolences to Kopanye’s family. Kopanye’s death adds to the increasing number of cases of women whose lives have been sadly cut short during this unacceptable endemic scourge of intimate femicide, it said.
The department, along with various stakeholders, says it has been leading a number of programmes with the aim of combating domestic violence and responding to the increasing number of incidents of intimate femicide.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Michael Masutha had announced during his Budget Vote presentation in Parliament earlier this month an impending review of the Criminal Procedure Act, 1977, which aims to, among other things, introduce stiffer sentences for offences relating to domestic violence and femicide.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK