Activists plead with Ramaphosa to release woman who killed abusive husband
1 November 2018
Civil society groups have pleaded with President Cyril Ramaphosa and Justice Minister Michael Masutha to release Martha Marumo, who is serving a life sentence for killing her abusive husband.
Chants of "release her now, release Martha now" echoed through the Saint George Hotel in Pretoria on Thursday as it hosted the first ever national summit on gender-based violence and femicide.
The summit aims to engage over 1 000 stakeholders on a way forward in addressing the scourge of violence against women and children in the country, and outline a roadmap to achieving this.
According to StatsSA, "70 813 women experienced sexual offences in 2016/2017 as compared to 31 665 in 2015/2016. This is over a hundred percent increase in violence against women".