- Mpumalanga Government has only two state-run shelters for gender-based violence victims.
- 900 cases of GBV reported in Mpumalanga in 3-months
- DA ask Mpumalanga Government to consider having a state-run shelter for gender-based violence victims in each of the 17-local municipalities in the province.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is extremely disappointed that despite the high cases of Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) in Mpumalanga, the Provincial Government has only two state-run shelters for gender-based violence victims.
The latest Crime Statistics revealed that 900 cases of GBV, which include sexual offences, rape, attempted sexual offences, and sexual assault, were reported in Mpumalanga Police Stations between January and March 2026. With such high figures, the DA believes that Mpumalanga needs more state-run shelters for gender-based violence victims.
The violence against women and children does not stop with rape, sexual assault, and sexual offences, but it also includes horrific cases of assault and murder. Just to mention one case: a woman from Carolina was set alight by her partner and later succumbed to her injuries. In another brutal attack, a man chopped off a woman’s hand with a panga and threatened to “finish her off.” So many more horror stories of GBVF remain untold in the province!
In 2024 and 2025, specifically in the notorious Township called Pienaar, there was an increasing number of cases involving the abduction and murder of children, further escalating the GBVF crisis in the Province of Mpumalanga.
In response, the DA has sent parliamentary questions to Social Development MEC, Mpumi Hlophe, asking what her department is doing to accommodate the increasing number of GBVF victims in places of safety. We also asked the MEC to consider having a state-run shelter for gender-based violence victims in each of the 17-local municipalities in the province.
The DA notes that the 4th quarter crime statistics of 2025/26 for Mpumalanga recorded a 5.5% decrease in gender-based assault cases; however, the DA is aware that many such cases are not reported or cases are withdrawn. Furthermore, rape has increased by 5.7% during the same period.
The crime stats indicated that Vosman and Piet Retief police stations are in the top 30 in South Africa for reported sexual offenses. Similarly, Piet Retief and Ermelo police stations are in the top 30 for reported rape cases.
Government that must assist victims of GBVF in providing support services and shelter to help catch and convict the perpetrators, as women and children in South Africa deserve to live free from fear.
With that being said, the DA commends the Provincial Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison for compliance with the prescripts of the Domestic Violence Act. In the fourth quarter of 2025/2026, they reached their set target of monitoring 19 Police Stations across the province for compliance with the Act.
The purpose of this Act is to afford the victims of domestic violence the maximum protection from domestic abuse that the law can provide; and to introduce measures which seek to ensure that the relevant organs of state give full effect to the provisions of this Act, and thereby convey that the State is committed to the elimination of domestic violence.