# Deputy minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, says traditional leaders have an important role to play in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide. Last week, president Cyril Ramaphosa reaffirmed government’s commitment to confronting this scourge with urgency through a four-point recovery plan to strengthen the national response. Letsike says traditional leaders, as custodians of culture and community moral fibre, can challenge harmful patriarchal norms that perpetuate gender-based violence and femicide. She adds that they can also leverage traditional councils and courts as centres for justice.
Deputy minister Letsike says traditional leaders are important in the GBVF fight