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IOL News
2 days ago
- Health
- IOL News
Urgent action needed to address KZN's alarming rape statistics
NGO's say the deep-rooted issues that lead to gender-based violence need to be addressed. Image: Independent Newspapers Archives KwaZulu-Natal continues to report one of the highest rates of rape in South Africa, contributing 19.9% to the national total, according to the fourth quarter crime statistics released recently by the South African Police Service. Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said that in the quarter under review, provinces such as the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Limpopo, North West, and the Western Cape recorded decreases in rape statistics. However, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal remained the biggest contributors, at 19.1% and 19.9% respectively. To address the crisis, Mchunu said the government had launched a 90-day Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBV+F) blitz. 'This includes the revival of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on GBV+F, tasked with coordinating government interventions, resolving systemic bottlenecks, and ensuring measurable progress,' he said. But activists say the government's efforts are not addressing the deep-rooted and devastating reality facing women and children in the province. 'It's incredibly difficult to determine the true scale of sexual violence in South Africa because an estimated 95% of rape cases go unreported,' said Women For Change founder and executive director, Sabrina Walter. 'In the official crime statistics published by SAPS, we only see a fraction of the reality, silenced by fear, shame, and a broken justice system.' Walter said the persistent high rape figures in KZN were driven by 'entrenched patriarchy, poverty, and the lack of accessible, trauma-informed support services'. She added that the stats showing that most rapes were committed by individuals known to the victims, and often in private homes, further underscored the need for community-based prevention strategies, said Walter. 'This is exactly why prevention must begin at home, within families, relationships, and communities. It's also why we focus on empowering bystanders, friends, neighbours, and relatives to speak out, intervene safely, and support survivors instead of staying silent.' On the state's response to GBV, Walter said the justice system was failing. 'Every single day, we hear from survivors who were turned away by police, refused the right to open a case, or watched as officers failed to arrest perpetrators, even in clear cases where protection orders were breached.' She called for ongoing, trauma-informed, survivor-centred training for police and for GBV to be declared a National Disaster. 'Without this formal recognition, GBVF continues to be treated as a secondary issue, despite thousands of women and children being harmed or killed every year.' The TEARS Foundation echoed this view, saying it had seen no evidence of a real decrease in rape, especially not in KZN. 'At The TEARS Foundation, we are deeply concerned by the narrative suggesting a national decline in rape cases,' the organisation said in a statement. 'What we are seeing is an increase in survivors being turned away at police stations, more cases being closed without prosecution, and fewer formal reports being made. These are not signs of progress. They are signs of a system that survivors are losing faith in.'
Express Tribune
22-05-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Businessmen demand EFS restoration in original form
Listen to article Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Jawed Bilwani, while highlighting the crucial role played by the Export Finance Scheme (EFS) in sustaining Pakistan's exports, emphasised that the scheme must continue in its original status and position, which was before the presentation of federal budget for fiscal year 2024-25. In a statement, he called for allowing local purchases under Section 880 (1)(b) of SRO 957(I)/2021 (local input goods liable to sales tax to be supplied against zero-rated invoices) to ensure liquidity, competitiveness and formalisation across the entire value chain, as recommended by the Inter-Ministerial Committee. "The EFS is critical to ensuring continued export-led growth and trade balance improvement," he said. "Despite facing the highest regional costs of electricity, gas, water and interest rates, Pakistan's exports have shown remarkable resilience, a feat largely attributable to the support provided by the EFS. Preserving and expanding this scheme is essential for maintaining export competitiveness." Bilwani highlighted that the EFS was strategically developed by consolidating all previous schemes under one umbrella, which minimised documentation requirements and facilitated ease of doing business through a fully automated system integrated with Web-based One Customs (WeBOC) and the Pakistan Single Window (PSW). "Much of the quality yarn and fabric used by Pakistan's apparel exporters is not produced domestically and the local alternatives, where available, are often of lower quality and higher cost," he pointed out. "The imported yarn used by garment manufacturers is of superior quality, giving exporters a competitive edge in global markets." The value-added apparel sector makes up to 70% value addition to export goods and requires uninterrupted access to high-quality raw material. "Countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam are completely reliant on imported raw material for their export-oriented textile sectors and their success is a proof of effectiveness of such models when supported by robust facilitation mechanisms," he said. Bilwani warned that policy changes announced in the last federal budget, particularly the removal of zero-rating for local supplies, disrupted the balance between imported and local raw material. "Currently, while the imported raw material is exempt from taxes, local inputs are subject to 18% sales tax with delayed and costly refunds," he said. "This creates a structural imbalance, discouraging local sourcing and impacting SMEs across the value chain." In view of the IMF's reservations about fully restoring the zero-rating facility, he proposed a pragmatic middle path such as adopting a negative list to restrict high-risk imports under the EFS while preserving the broader scheme's facilitative framework.
