Karabo’s family wants her death to be a message for SA women

The family of Karabo Mokoena, who was brutally murdered, allegedly by her boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe, want South Africans to treat Mokoena’s death as a message against violence against women.

The 22-year-old was a vocal activist against social ills against women and worked closely with her uncle, Tshepo Mokoena, in community outreach programmes in the vicinity of her home in Diepkloof.

Social development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, who visited the family yesterday, said that according to a family spokesperson, Karabo had been killed by her boyfriend “because she said no”.

“We are informed by the family that she had said no to the boy, whatever the discussion, whatever the argument was. But she had said no to this young man and this young man could not take it, and decided to be a coward and to kill a young soul,” Mayathula-Khoza alleged.

According to a Sunday Times report, Mokoena was last seen outside a Sandton nightclub leaving with Mantsoe after the two were involved in a physical altercation.

Karabo had already opened a case of assault against Mantsoe earlier this year following an incident, for which she produced photographs of her bruised face.

Mokoena’s uncle, Tshepo, said that it was unfortunate that the woman he had raised fell into the trap of an abusive relationship.

Mantsoe will again appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on May 24.

The family will hold a memorial service for Karabo at the Diepkloof Community Hall on Wednesday.

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