South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered an urgent audit of streets and public spaces considered dangerous for women after the bodies of 12 women were found within two months in an area east of Johannesburg, sparking fresh concern over the country's high levels of gender-based violence.
Addressing the nation on Tuesday evening, Ramaphosa announced a series of measures aimed at improving the safety of women and girls, including identifying areas where poor lighting, abandoned buildings and unsafe transport routes could expose women to danger.
The deaths have triggered a national outcry and renewed questions over the scale of violence against women in South Africa, which has one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world.
Ramaphosa said there had been concern that the deaths could be linked to one person, but said police had not established such a connection.
"There has understandably been widespread fear that the discovery of these women in close proximity could indicate the work of a single perpetrator," Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation on Tuesday evening.
"At present, the police have not found evidence establishing that these killings were committed by a single perpetrator."
Police have so far made four arrests in connection with the cases.
The president acknowledged that the government had not done enough in recent years to prevent violence against women and girls, saying stronger action was now required.
"Every municipality must begin a women's safety audit without delay," he said. "High-risk areas must be identified" and addressed.
The audits will focus on conditions that could make public spaces dangerous, including damaged or missing streetlights, overgrown areas, abandoned buildings, unsafe transport routes and facilities, as well as parks that lack proper security.
"These audits must identify broken streetlights, overgrown public spaces, abandoned buildings, unsafe transport routes and facilities, poorly secured parks, and other conditions that place women at risk."
Ramaphosa also directed ministers to prepare an "enforcement package" aimed at dealing with alcohol-related violence.
He said alcohol should not be used to shift responsibility away from people who commit acts of violence, but argued that harmful alcohol use was linked to wider problems of interpersonal violence.
"Alcohol does not cause gender-based violence and it can never excuse it. Responsibility always lies with the perpetrator," he said.
"But harmful alcohol use is a significant aggravating factor in interpersonal violence, and it must be addressed as part of our wider prevention effort."
The president said efforts to tackle violence against women must go beyond arrests, policing and laws, arguing that the problem begins much earlier through attitudes and behaviour.
He said violence starts with beliefs that place women below men and with attempts by men to control their partners.
"The South African president also said a deeper change, beyond policing and legislation, must take place to reduce violence against women and girls, saying it "does not begin when a fist is raised" or when a woman is raped or murdered."
"It begins much earlier," he said. "It begins in attitudes that regard women as inferior… with the belief that a man has the right to control a woman.
"It begins when jealousy is mistaken for love, when control is mistaken for protection and coercion is mistaken for affection.
"It begins when a man refuses to accept the word no."
Ramaphosa called on men and boys to play a leading role in efforts to stop gender-based violence, saying the responsibility for tackling violence should not continue to fall mainly on women.
"We have placed the burden of male violence on women," Ramaphosa said. "That must change."
"The solution to violence against women cannot be to make women less free."
South Africa is also dealing with a high overall murder rate. Police figures show that 5,427 people were killed between April and June this year.
The police figures do not separate homicide victims by gender. However, the South African Human Rights Commission recently reported that 569 women were killed during the same period, while another 1,052 women survived attempted murder.
The latest deaths have therefore added to wider concern over the safety of women and girls and prompted the government to combine policing, safer public spaces, action on alcohol-related violence and changes in social attitudes as part of its national response.