Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

GBV suspect evades SAPS for more than a year which ignores victim’s plea for justice

Soundbite: Barry Bateman (English)

Soundbite: Barry Bateman (Afrikaans)

The government’s stated commitment to combating gender-based violence rings hollow when the simple task of locating a suspect to ensure he appears in court seems to be impossible, even after the victim has provided information on the suspect’s possible location. A month ago, AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit approached the police to execute an arrest warrant for a man accused of stabbing his partner multiple times with a screwdriver. Seemingly unashamed of failing women, the police have ignored correspondence.

The unit represents Helena Fairlie, whose former partner Gregory Kleynhans has been on the run for more than a year, with the police showing no interest in locating and arresting him. On 6 December 2022, Kleynhans allegedly accosted Fairlie outside her guesthouse in Centurion as she was leaving for work, dragged her by her hair, attempted to force her into his car, slammed the door against her, and stabbed her multiple times with a screwdriver.

When neighbours heard Fairlie’s desperate screams for help, Kleynhans dropped the screwdriver and fled the scene. Fairlie was treated for stab wounds to her thighs and chest. Police are believed to have arrested Kleynhans, but he was released the next day. The police have not informed Fairlie of the circumstances surrounding his release or whether he was subject to any conditions of release. The trial was scheduled to begin on October 28, 2024, but Kleynhans fled.

The unit wrote to the commander of the Wierdabrug Police Station on 29 October and again 27 November, 2025, but no response has been received.

This week, President Cyril Ramaphosa boldly claimed in his letter to the nation, and was repeated at the ANC’s NGC, that declaring GBV a national disaster will allow the government to improve funding and access to justice, and help law enforcement agencies and the judiciary speed-up GBV-related cases. He also referred to the progress in the “operationalisation” of GBV-related laws.

Barry Bateman, the Unit’s spokesperson, says Ramaphosa demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem, and how the collapse of the criminal justice system is contributing to it. “Investigating cases, compiling dockets, arresting suspects, and ensuring their prosecution are not specialised tasks; they simply require the police to perform some of their core duties.

“A GBV case cannot be sped up, and victims can’t access justice, if the investigating officer cannot bother to speak to the victim and locate the suspect. No amount of laws will contribute to combatting GBV if the police do not enforce them and use them to ensure accountability. It is embarrassing that a known suspect whose possible location has been provided to the police has evaded them for more than a year. It is unconscionable that the police have accepted this state of affairs, while the president appears to believe that declaring this scourge a national disaster will have any effect,” said Bateman.

The unit will escalate its engagement to ensure the police take this case seriously.