Pretoria - The spike in the number of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) cases during and after the annual 16 Days of Activism at the end of last year was alarming, as police and communities reported multiple cases every day, despite efforts to stop them.
There were reports of girls as young as four years old being sexually assaulted and killed, women and elderly persons also being brutally raped and murdered, in what stakeholders said was a scourge worse than any pandemic.
The release of statistics on violent crimes against women and children between April and September 2022 showed an alarming number of cases, and in a media briefing in December, Police Minister General Bheki Cele, described GBVF as a national crisis.
One case which sent shock waves across the country was that of 28-year-old Sivenathi Sebe from East London, who had come to Gauteng to further her studies. She disappeared after a night out with friends in Pretoria on November 4, to be found dead next to a railway station in Pretoria West six days later. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Her friends had contacted the police to open a missing person case when they realised she had not come back, her family told Pretoria News.
When the body was found, friends and family were initially told that an investigation found she had fallen asleep near the station and died, but they did not believe this because her body had wounds and signs of sexual assault.
They urged the police to look closely, after which forensics confirmed that she had been killed.
When she was buried early in December, her case was still pending and no suspects had been arrested.
But, it was not only women who became statistics as, among others, 40-year-old Nkosinathi Mlambo was shot multiple times on the doorstep of his parents’ house in Madadeni near Tonga on November 19.
It was alleged that his wife Buyisile Madubandlela orchestrated the murder, alongside accomplices who included her uncle, Bhekithemba Nkosi, Thato Mbewe, David Matsepane and Mpho Ditlage.
Judgment by the Nkomazi Magistrate’s Court did (not) make matters any easier for the Mlambo family, as the five accused were granted bail.
On December 11, a 29-year-old man allegedly set a house alight in Mtiti, Polokwane, following an argument with his ex-girlfriend.
The 23 year-old woman, who lived with her two children and other relatives, died in the fire, along with her 3-year-old daughter, while four others were left in a serious condition in hospital.
The suspect was arrested by SAPS and his murder and attempted murder case is set to begin this month.
Kearabetswe Makane, 26, from Soshanguve, also fell victim to GBVF, at the hands of her boyfriend. The man was, the police said, accused of brutally killing her and dumping her body at a graveyard in Ga-Rankuwa on December 18.
Her family said they were devastated by the killing, something made worse by it being allegedly committed in front of the couple’s young child.
It was alleged that the man stabbed Makane several times with a bottle, tied her to the car and drove around before releasing the body and driving over her while their 3-year-old child watched.
He then undressed and dumped her in the graveyard and called his parents to tell them what he had done. He also told them to open the door behind which the blood-soaked girl was standing.
The man was arrested a few days later and made his initial appearance in court on December 20.
Pretoria News