The Gauteng Provincial Government would do well to step away from political defensiveness and recognise that collaboration is what this moment demands.
The DA has offered a R500 000 reward for credible information that leads to the identification, apprehension and conviction of those responsible for the horrific murders of women on the East Rand.
We have also launched a petition calling for urgent action on the systemic failures that have allowed women to be exposed to this level of violence. You can sign it here: https://actionnotadvice.co.za/
Neither of these actions is a substitute for government action. They are an attempt to strengthen it.
Government says that it wants cooperation. Then it should welcome every credible effort to find these killers, protect women and address the failures that allowed this crisis to develop in the first place.
Women do not need another lecture about how to keep themselves safe. Women have spent their entire lives navigating a society in which they are forced to think about their safety every time they leave home.
The responsibility now lies with all of us, but particularly with those entrusted with the power and resources of the State, to make South Africa safer.
And yes, this is political.
It is political because policing is political. The allocation of police resources is political. Forensic capacity is political. Crime intelligence is political. The effectiveness of our criminal justice system is political. The policies and decisions that determine whether women can walk safely through their own communities are political.
Calling attention to those failures is not exploiting tragedy. It is exercising democratic accountability.
What is deeply disappointing about the Gauteng Provincial Government’s statement is its instinct to attack those who are demanding action rather than to welcome every additional hand reaching out to help.
At a time when another woman’s body has been found, we should not be arguing over who gets credit or who gets blamed.
We should be asking: what more can we do?
The DA is ready to work with government, SAPS, communities and civil society to find these killers and prevent further deaths.
But collaboration requires government to engage with criticism in good faith and not dismiss it as political opportunism because it doesn’t like a mirror being held up to itself.
The women who have been murdered are mothers, daughters, sisters, partners and friends whose lives have been taken.
Their families deserve justice. And the women of Gauteng deserve more than advice about how to avoid becoming victims.
They deserve action.
We stand ready to work with anyone who genuinely wants to deliver it.