Charred body of yet another girl found

WHILE the nation still mourns the tragic death of Karabo Mokoena, North West police yesterday announced the discovery of the charred body of a 15-year-old girl.

The girl’s body was found yesterday in Jouberton after she had gone missing on Saturday.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone said the girl apparently left her home on Friday to visit a friend, but then went missing.

He said her identity could not be revealed as her family was yet to be informed.

“No one has been arrested, but investigations are under way,” he said.

This horrific discovery comes in the wake of Mokoena’s death which has sparked a nationwide outcry focusing on abuse of women and children.

Sandile Mantsoe is standing trial for premeditated murder and defeating the ends of justice for allegedly killing and burning Mokoena’s corpse.

During Social Development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza’s visit to Mokoena’s home yesterday, her uncle, Tshepo Mokoena, said Karabo was due to give a talk on the importance of grooming young men to be better members of society.

Tshepo said he was due to launch a programme aimed at developing and rehearsing gender equitable attitudes and related violent behaviours.

“I run a programme called “Boys to Men” that was meant to be launched on July 3 and Karabo was meant to be a part of it as a speaker.

“She said she wanted to come and speak to the boys about how they should behave and how to say no to certain things,” Tshepo said.

“It pains me today that my daughter can’t be part of that. Maybe it’s about time that we as men should talk to our young boys to say that if a girl says no, you must just walk away.”

He said the family was still reeling in disbelief at the manner in which their daughter was killed.

“Women are strong human beings, they will always stand up and they will always talk. But we as men always encourage each other when another man is going through hardships, but we must now start going to women and ask them how can we start working together,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mayathula-Khoza echoed Tshepo’s sentiments and said her department would be focusing on imparting principles in boys and young men that would see them being better members of society.

“We can’t only continue to focus on girl children. Now it’s important to focus on boy children so that they can grow up to respect their counterparts,” Mayathula-Khoza said.

Her department would intensify programmes which aim to prevent the abuse of women and children, she said.

Karabo’s memorial service will be held on Wednesday at Diepkloof Hall while her funeral will be on Friday at the same venue.