President Cyril Ramaphosa has called a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces to discuss a new approach to combating violence against women.

The President’s call for an extraordinary sitting comes in the wake of a surge of violence against women.

“Referring to violence perpetrated against women in the last two weeks, President Ramaphosa stressed that we all have a responsibility to ensure that these events become a turning point in our fight to end gender-based violence,” Parliament’s spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.

National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise and National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo have received the letter about the sitting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, 18 September 2019.

Section 84 (2) (d) of the Constitution and Rule 7 (1) (b) of the Joint Rules of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces empower the President to call an extraordinary sitting of the two Houses of Parliament to conduct extraordinary special business.

“As the National Council of Provinces is scheduled for a week-long Provincial Week oversight programme in all nine provinces next week, it is anticipated that its Wednesday programme will be suspended to enable delegates to be part of the joint sitting,” Mothapo.