Stop extreme violence in SA
Upon releasing the first quarter crime statistics for 2022/2023, police mninister Bheki Cele said from April to June this year, 855 women and 243 children had been killed in SA.
The figures, Cele had said, were compared to the same period last year when the country was placed under lockdown level 1 and 2 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The extreme violence and pervasive crimes perpetrated by men against women is alarmingly unacceptable.
On Monday, the small community of Nomzamo in Komani’s Mlungisi woke up to the tragic news of a woman, a mother, sister, friend and neighbour, who was brutally attacked in her own home by a suspect who is still at large.
The throat of the woman, aged 44, was allegedly slit open, with apparent stab wounds to her body. She was left lying in a pool of blood with no-one to rescue her from this vicious animal who had decided to take her life.
All of this is said to have taken place after her daughter had left for school. Imagine coming home to be told your mother, the person you have known all your life who has given you nothing but love, is no more.
We live among vile human beings who will stop at nothing to destroy women in this society.
We must not forget the chain of deaths in the village of Ezingqolweni in Cacadu where elderly women were targets of a possible serial killer, or Walter Sisulu University student Nosicelo Mtebeni whose body was found dismembered by her boyfriend who later pleaded guilty to the charge, or Uyinene Mrwetyana, a 19year-old University of Cape Town student who was raped and murdered at a post office.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had previously stated he was appalled by ‘the war that has been waged” on women.
Communities expect the courts to deal appropriately with such matters. How do we confront this pandemic?
How do we join hands in having a zero tolerance approach when it comes to crimes committed against women and children?
Going back to the incident that took place in Nomzamo, did that woman fight back? Was it someone she knew? What was the motive behind this gruesome act? These are some of the questions we often ask ourselves when confronted with such tragedy.
Why do we even have to ask ourselves these questions in the first place, in a socalled democratic society where human rights and human dignity, equality, peace and justice are deeply entrenched in our constitution?