16 Days of Activism: These women died violently in Middelburg
In the last couple of weeks a woman was burnt and cut into pieces, another was found naked and bound with her throat slit and another was forced into a car, driven around with and raped as if she was an animal without her own free will.
Several violent crimes against women in Middelburg, poses the question – how much do anti-violence campaigns actually do?
The last couple of months have seen women lose their lives in the most horrific ways:
• On 20 October, the house where Eunice Mokoana (37) and her daughters Hlalifang (17) and Seopela (9) were sleeping, was set alight. Her boyfriend, a SANDF soldier, has been charged with their murders in what is being called ‘a clear case of femicide’.
NOTE: Femicide is described as the killing of a woman or girl, in particular by a man and on account of her gender.
https://www.citizen.co.za/middelburg-observer/74069/breaking-news-mother-daughters-burn-death-extension-6/
• On 19 November Thebatso Serage (21) was suffocated, set alight and cut into pieces. Her boyfriend has been arrested in connection with her murder.
https://www.citizen.co.za/middelburg-observer/75989/woman-suffocated-set-alight-cut-pieces/
• On 28 November Anna Nonyana’s naked body was discovered. Her throat was slit and her hands bound with a cable tie.
Other victims of violence, were lucky to escape with their lives:
• On 23 November, a woman was picked up next to the Van Dijksdrift Road, she was later robbed of her belongings and stabbed. She managed to survive the ordeal.
• On Saturday 2 December, a woman waiting for a taxi was shoved into a Golf GTI by its driver. The man drove around with her and raped her. She managed to escape when he stopped to open a gate to a house in eMalahleni.
Is 16 Days of Activism enough?
Africa Check wrote in July 2017, after a speech by Arts and Culture minister Nathi Mthethwa, that in South Africa:
- a woman is killed every four hours
- half of those are killed by intimate partners – (one every eight hours)
- the femicide rate is five times higher than the global rate
The Daily Maverick writer Orateng Lepodise called for daily campaigns instead of the annual 16 Days of Activism currently running from 25 November to 10 December.
The Saartjie Baartman Centre for women and children wrote that although the 16 Days of Activism creates a major impact, more should be done, like victims speaking out about their ordeals and listening to those of others.
Other news:
Sex, booze and drugs at school – Hillside investigation ongoing
Photo gallery – Triathlon at Kids@Swim
A ‘mashup’ op beauty and brains
Woman suffocated, set alight and cut into pieces
Policeman hijacked, shot whilst returning from crime scene
Woman claims muti made her teeth fall out
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