A shocking report to the City of Cape Town Safety and Security Portfolio Committee shows that less than 1% of persons arrested for firearm contraventions are convicted. “This report highlights a grave and extremely worrying issue,” said Ian Cameron, Action Centre Director of Community Safety. “The management structures of the
A missing four-year-old girl was found murdered in the Western Cape’s Paarl this afternoon. The case against a man who raped a 17-year-old girl from Kimberley while he pretended to be a doctor was postponed to the end of October. This past week, a 36-year-old woman was burnt alive by
“We put the 83 people murdered in one week in the Western Cape squarely in front of Minister of Police Bheki Cele’s door,” said Ian Cameron, director of community safety at Action Society. “It is atrocious and another proof of his failure to lead the Police Department in preventing crime.”
Following the success of Action Society’s first workshop on gender-based violence (GBV) in Heideveld, Cape Town, on Women’s Day, we held another workshop in Tafelsig, Mitchell’s Plain, on Tuesday, 6 September. More than 50 senior citizens took part in the programme, presented by Personal Safety. The workshop focussed on GBV
Beaten and locked up by her boyfriend – all because she visited a friend’s place. Yamkela Sikhafungana is a 26-year-old mother from Khayelitsha who was severely beaten in her face because she was out with a friend in July this year. The suspect, who was granted bail at the end
“Today proved that the justice system seems not to realise the seriousness of threats made in incidents of gender-based violence,” said Kaylynn Palm, Action Centre Coordinator of Action Society. “A man walked out of court a free man after threatening, intimidating and abusing his girlfriend, as well as violating a
Even though Action Society played a valuable role as watching brief, we were disappointed in a recent gender-based violence conviction in Klapmuts in the Winelands. The abusive man was sentenced to two years, wholly suspended in July for assaulting his girlfriend. In December last year, the man hit the woman
Ayanda Msimago, a 27-year-old from Khayelitsha, just wants to live a safe and peaceful life. In September last year, she was raped, beaten, stripped naked and thrown out of her shack by her ex-boyfriend Sipho Qokela. As we sit in a room at the Saartjie Baartman Centre, her tears roll
A man who was supposed to be a role model meant to protect and keep his daughter safe from danger is a Mitchells Plain teenager’s worst nightmare. Shannon Addeman was allegedly sexually assaulted by her biological father, Travis Martin, six years ago. “When I was 13 years old, I lived
He is an upstanding member of society and owns three churches. Still, ironically, behind closed doors, the Elsies River pastor is a different person – he is accused of raping a woman and two children. 72-year-old Pastor Alex Warner is accused of assaulting and raping two minors, Lauren, aged four
Action Society acts in the interest of the public through active advocacy for policy change. We work within the community to fight for a reformed justice system, holding government accountable for failing to protect South African citizens.
