“I’m traumatised every time I have to go to court and look at the suspect. I'm losing my mind... I have lost weight and I can’t sleep at night thinking about how my son died. I’m still looking for answers.”
These are the heartbreaking words of a grieving Nomsa Zwane, whose six-year-old son is among 6,859 people who were killed in SA in just three months.
The boy is one of 352 children who were killed in the period.
He was stabbed seven times in his throat, allegedly by a neighbour.
The 2021/2022 quarterly crime statistics for the period from October to December were released by police minister Bheki Cele on Friday and showed that there have been increases in cases of murder and attempted murder.
The Zwane family in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, want the murder case against their neighbour who has been accused of killing their son on October 22 to come to trial.
Suspect Tinyiko Shaun Sekwane, 27, who is in custody, will return to court in March after another postponement in the Mamelodi magistrate’s court three weeks ago.
Zwane said the case has drained them emotionally, financially and physically.
“I have a picture of my son’s lifeless body and I can’t get it out of my mind. I want the court to speed up the process so that I can get closure. I have lost hope in the justice system because the case is taking so long and it’s traumatising me,” Zwane said.
Anne-Marie Bendeman, a senior prosecutor at the court said Sekwane has not yet pleaded.
“The suspect got a new lawyer and keeps on applying for bail even though the court has denied him bail,” said Bendeman.
The statistics also revealed that 902 women were killed, while there were 1,240 attempts to murder women, with 15,692 reports of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH). There were also 123 rapes per day, Cele said.
There were 11 farm killings with three of the murders being of farmworkers or dwellers killed by farm owners or managers.
There were 252 murders, 209 attempted murders and 3,400 assault GBH cases that happened at liquor outlets such as pubs, taverns and shebeens.
Betty Sithole from Ikageng, near Potchefstroom in the North West, whose 10-year-old daughter was abducted from school in November and later murdered, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, is still looking for answers.
“The court was back in session on February 2. I was rushing to work, so I wasn’t able to wait until it began,” she said.
Sithole will be talking to the investigating officer and hopes to be briefed about the case’s progress.
“The school has to be held to account because that’s where my child was abducted,” said Sithole.
A mother of a 17-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by their pastor in Soshanguve, Tshwane, has expressed anger and disappointment that the case has been provisionally withdrawn due to lack of evidence.
The mother was encouraged by a social worker who had spoken to her daughter to lay charges as her daughter had been experiencing nightmares.
“The investigating officer said that the case will be reopened once there are new developments and new findings to their investigations,” the mother said.
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) People Opposing Women Abuse said it was disturbed by these latest crime statistics, which it said illustrate the high levels of violence in communities across the country and many cases of serious gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
Spokesperson Thandiwe McCloy said there needs to be more investment in programmes targeted at men that address issues of GBVF over and above interventions targeted at women.
“These programmes could go a long way in assisting men to deal with their behavioural issues, assist them to manage conflict in healthier ways and change their mindsets for the better,” McCloy said.
She said Powa believed that more education early in childhood regarding the importance of gender equality is crucial.
“It’s important to socialise children to know that boys are not better than girls and that they are equal, from a young age,” McCloy said.
NGO Save Our Children’s CEO Steve Miller said the figures, especially on the killing of children, were appalling.
“Violence against children must not, cannot be tolerated. We need to work towards ensuring that no children are murdered in our country in the coming year,” Miller said.
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