KZN urges Saps to crack down on GBV

Local government officials visited the family home of 23-year-old Durban woman, Natasha Conabeer yesterday.

She was last seen leaving her Florida Road flat on the 19th of August, telling friends was going home, but she never arrived.

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After a weeks-long search for her, an unconscious Conabeer was dumped outside her mother's Inanda home, north of Durban this weekend.

She died on Monday morning in hospital.

Premier Sihle Zikalala says they are deeply horrified by Conabeer's death.

The family told reporters yesterday that doctors suspect she had been poisoned with brake fluid. They believe a large dose of paracetamol was also found in her system.

Zikalala says they will be following up with police to find out where the investigation stands. He said it must also be given priority and fast tracked.

"We want to ensure that perpetrators are not given bail once they are arrested and those who are convicted must be given heavy sentences."

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Gender-based violence and crimes against children have dominated headlines in recent weeks following numerous murders, rapes, assaults and kidnappings and disappearances.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement that violence against women and children in South Africa is now beyond a national crisis.

New eThekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda told the municipality's first Executive Committee meeting since he was elected into office that a task team will be established to crack down on such crimes.

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Thousands of people protested across the country last week calling for an end to gender-based violence and harsher punishment for those convicted in the courts.

Protestors wore black on the Durban beachfront at the weekend to voice their anger at crimes against women and children.