President Cyril Ramaphosa did nothing while women and children were dying

Ian Cameron, the chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police, said that President Cyril Ramaphosa failed to protect women and children in South Africa.

Cameron shared his views on Ramaphosa’s performance following the President’s speech on gender-based violence on Tuesday, 29 September 2026.

Ramaphosa addressed the nation, saying that violence against women in South Africa was a national shame.

His speech followed the grisly discovery of eleven women’s bodies in Ekurhuleni, a municipality east of Johannesburg.

These murders reignited public anger and fear after repeated government pledges had failed to curb gender-based violence.

The victims are mostly aged in their 20s or 30s, and some have been found stripped and showing signs of sexual violence.

“There are women lying tonight in government mortuaries waiting to be identified, waiting for someone to claim them, waiting to be taken home and laid to rest,” he said.

“The violence inflicted upon the women of South Africa is a source of profound pain and national shame. The nation is angry. The women of South Africa are angry.”

Ramaphosa said police had not found evidence that a serial killer was behind the 11 women’s deaths, adding that all possibilities were still under investigation.

He said arrests had been made in connection with three of the killings and reiterated that investigations into all the deaths would not be allowed to go cold.

“What weighs on me most is that seven years ago, in this same month, I stood before the nation to speak about this same crisis,” he said.

“Yet here we are, once more having to confront the terrible reality of violence against women in our country.”

“We must confront an uncomfortable truth. What we have done has not been enough. We need to do much more.”

Ian Cameron responds

Cameron responded, saying that Ramaphosa was correct in saying that the government has not done enough.

“You didn’t even do the basics. You have had years to act, while women and children keep dying and specialised investigators remain under-resourced,” he said.

He cited the Kempton Park police station, which had no electricity and no functioning generator. Management has been trying to get one for about three years.

“I have raised these issues, week after week, meeting after meeting, committee after committee, presentation after presentation, letter after letter,” he said.

“Yet, South Africans are told there is a highly visible lockdown underway in Ekurhuleni. I will be blunt, you are lying.”

“There was zero visible sign of that lockdown at station level in both Kempton Park and Tembisa, even if they wanted to, they don’t have sufficient members.”

He said that at the Tembisa police station, there aren’t enough detectives and only 68 vehicles, compared with a granted fleet of 107.

In comparison, VIP Protection Services gets about R2.46 billion, of which the large majority is for Ramaphosa’s cabinet.

The specialised Family Violence and Child Protection policing environment gets R1.614 billion, R846 million less than VIP protection.

“South Africa does not need another speech. We have heard too many, especially from you, and unfortunately, very often, oversight is ignored,” Cameron said.

“We need detectives, vehicles, forensic capacity, proper victim support and police stations that can keep the lights on.”