The scourge of femicide
ONE FAMILY’S NIGHTMARE HAS JUST BEGUN ...
‘KARABO’S parents are numb; they can’t even talk. They are just sitting in their house almost as if they are also dead.” These were the harrowing words of Tshepo Mokoena, the paternal uncle of Karabo Mokoena, who was allegedly killed and burnt by her boyfriend.
Karabo had been missing since April 28, her disappearance becoming the subject of a social media trend as users searched for her whereabouts. But yesterday she was confirmed dead when Tshepo wrote a Facebook post alleging his niece’s boyfriend had confessed to killing and burning Karabo.
Speaking to the Cape Times’ sister newspaper, The Star yesterday, Tshepo described the painful experience he had to endure with Karabo’s mother when they went to the Sandton mortuary to identify her body.
“That was the worst experience I’ve ever gone though. We did not see Karabo in person but were shown pictures of her burnt body. She is burnt beyond recognition but we could obviously identify her with other features of her body because we knew her very well,” he said, with the pain in his voice almost tangible.
Tshepo added Karabo’s siblings had gone to the suspect’s Sandton apartment on April 29 to see if the deceased was there, and found her ID book and passport with the building’s security officers. This, he said, made them realise something was wrong.
“The police then went to the young man’s flat. When they opened the flat, the carpet was wet and had bloodstains all over it. We saw (surveillance) footage of him getting those big, black dustbins with wheels that are used by Pikitup, where he t ook the bin into the apartment, and a few hours later, he took the bin out,” he explained.
“The footage also shows Karabo came into the building and did not leave. About 2am (on Thursday), he confessed to killing Karabo, where he then directed the police to where he dumped Karabo. The worst thing he did was that, even after killing her, he put a tyre around her neck, doused her with petrol and set her alight. The poor girl is now burnt beyond recognition.”
Tshepo added that when the family were at the Sandton police station yesterday, they found out that Karabo had previously opened a case of assault against her boyfriend.
However, when The Star contacted the station’s spokesperson, Constable David Mothapo, he could not confirm the assault case, saying it was Karabo’s boyfriend who had opened up the assault case.
“Our records show it was the boyfriend who opened a case of common assault against a girlfriend. We don’t know whether the girlfriend was indeed Karabo, but (the suspect) was the one who opened the case,” Mothapo said.
Stephanie Leong, one of Karabo’s close friends, told The Star that her friend’s boyfriend “was someone who knew the Bible and he was always spitting verses”.
“He was a smooth talker and had his way around everything, he was always neat and put together,” said Leong. These views were echoed by a woman who shared first-year graphic design classes with the suspect at the University of Johannesburg in 2009.
“When we had drawing classes, for example, there were times when we had to draw a naked body. (The suspect) would get up and walk out of class. I mean, he would rather fail that part of the module than to draw the naked lady in the class.”
“Everything was based on religion with him; he would refuse to do certain things if he felt something was not righteous in the eyes of God,” the classmate, who asked to remain anonymous, added.
Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo confirmed that a murder charge had been opened but that police were not ruling out further charges. He also would not comment on the allegation that the suspect had confessed.
... WHILE ANOTHER’S HAS COME TO A BITTER END
FOR THE family of Nosipho Mandleleni, the 20-year-sentence handed down to her murderous boyfriend, Patrick Wisani, was not justice served.
Wielding a sjambok, Wisani, a former ANC Youth League regional leader, beat the 24-yearold woman to death in 2015. While a murder conviction usually carries a life sentence, the high court in Joburg yesterday made the decision to deviate from this.
“I’m not happy, because the sentence of 20 years handed down was too little,” Mandleleni’s visibly upset mother, Noxolo, said in isiXhosa. “This man should’ve been given a life sentence, which would’ve been more appropriate.”
Community members and activists packed the courtroom in the high court for Wisani’s sentencing of 20 years for murder and a year each for assaulting and intimidating a State witness. The largely symbolic one-year sentences will be served concurrently with the murder charge.
In November, the court found Wisani guilty of killing Mandleleni at their Yeoville residence in September 2015. Her sister found her – beaten repeatedly with a sjambok and a broomstick – bleeding to death.
Although the judgment was not as severe as the family wished, there was still a silver lining to be had, said Nonhlanhla Skosana, of Sonke Gender Justice, after the sentencing.
“We know a lot of cases that just disappear and you don’t hear anything about it,” she said. “But for the fact that we are here today, for us it is a victory in a way.”
However, if any justice was served, it wasn’t because of the South African criminal justice system, Sonke members said.
Instead, it was the activist groups like Sonke that made it their mission to hold the system accountable after a “shoddy investigation from the start.”
“Our system is not designed to adequately deal with cases of violence against women. Our system failed Nosipho Mandleleni. And it will continue to fail more women like her if these breakdowns are not addressed,” Sonke representatives Thabang Pooe and Skosana wrote in a statement.
Community members at the sentencing agreed that it was not harsh enough.
“I hope he rots in hell,” one woman told The Star. Maurice Smithers, the Yeoville Bellevue No to Gender-Based Violence Coalition’s spokesperson, said it was clear that Judge Mohamed Ismail had carefully considered the judgment. The one qualm he had was the judge’s citing of a case where a perpetrator who received the same sentence had pleaded guilty. In comparison, Wisani had not shown any remorse or emotion besides anger, he said.
“That is a bit disturbing, I have to say,” Smithers added.
A small group dressed in the yellow garb of the ANC was also at the court. But compared to the dozens of supporters who swarmed the hallway after the sentencing, it was clear which side had come out in full force.
“Don’t play along with domestic violence,” read one woman’s sign.
Opposition parties also entered the fray yesterday, welcoming Wisani’s sentence.
The DA held a picket outside the court, carrying signs that called for “Justice for victims of abuse” and to “End violence against women.”
The EFF released a statement saying Wisani’s conduct was characteristic of the ANC Youth League.
Phindi Mjonondwane, a spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, said the NPA was in agreement with the court’s decision and that Wisani should be removed from society.
“In this constitutional dispensation there is no place for people like him who perpetrate violent crimes against women,” she said.
“We believe that it is a just and proper sentence for the nature of the crime that he committed,” stated Mjonondwane.