Zuma visits family of Courtney Pieters
President Jacob Zuma has visited the Pieters family in the Western Cape to express his condolences after the rape and murder of their 3-year-old daughter, Courtney.
Courtney's body was found in a shallow grave close to her home three days after she went missing in Elsies River.
A 40-year-old man, who is believed to have lived with the family, has already appeared in court in connection with the toddler's murder and rape.
Pieters' death comes amid a number of attacks on women in various parts of the country.
President Zuma says the matter needs to be urgently addressed.
"This in unacceptable and it has to be dealt with. We as the citizens of this country must say enough is enough. We must establish our groups as citizens to protect our children, to protect our women," says President Zuma.
The president says something has gone wrong in South Africa.
"The rate at which children and women are being murdered and raped by men...what is new now is that they are being killed by people they know and in some cases by people who are so intimate with them. Something has gone wrong," says President Zuma.
President Zuma says he was told by community members that the behaviour of the police left a lot to be desired.
"When police were asked to come and help, they almost treated the mother as a perpetrator instead of helping to look for the child. I will be discussing this with the Minister of Police," says the president.