Release Date: 18 October 2019
To: Editors, Producers and Reporters
The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) welcomes the life sentence judgement handed down by Judge Mokhine Mosopa to Nicholas Ninow yesterday at the Pretoria High Court.
The Commission believes Ninow’s sentencing will be a turning point in how gender-based violence (GBV) and other related cases are treated by the judicial system. Although the Commission respects the rule of law, through its court monitoring processes has identified systemic issues that results in long delays in prosecuting GBV cases and at times withdrawal of GBV cases due to insufficient evidence. The Commission trusts that going forward those issues will be a thing of the past.
“The Commission is particularly pleased that the judgement resonates with what His Excellency President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa called for during the State of the Nation Address, subsequently when he addressed the nation on the 5th September 2019 whilst responding to the GBV memorandum by activists and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). President Ramaphosa called for harsher punishment against perpetrators of GBV. Something the Commission has been decrying for years”, Said Mme Tamara Mathebula, the Chairperson of the Commission for Gender Equality.
The CGE once again implore on South Africans to join hands as part of the 365 Days of No Violence against Women to continue raising awareness and advocating against the scourge of gender-based violence. As 16 Days of Activism of No Violence against Women and Children approaches the will continue with its campaigns throughout the country engaging both boys and men about their role in ending gender-based violence which seems to be going on unabated. We hope through these campaign
boys will grow up being reasonable citizens who respect human rights and understand that women’s rights are also human rights.