16 Days of Activism: Five shocking cases that took place over this period in the past two years

30 November 2020 - 07:00 By unathi nkanjeni
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Protesters take a stand against SA’s unrelenting violence against women and girls, outside parliament in Cape Town.
Protesters take a stand against SA’s unrelenting violence against women and girls, outside parliament in Cape Town.
Image: Gallo Images/Nardus Engelbrecht

The brutal murder of a woman and her five children in the Eastern Cape during the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign has sent shock waves through the country.

TimesLIVE reported that the unidentified victim and her children, aged between six months and 10 years, were allegedly hacked to death with an axe at home in Dabekweni, Kwaaiman, as the country prepared to remember victims of violence against women and children.

According to a DispatchLIVE report, the woman's 16-year-old first-born son was the first person to discover the bodies at their home, near Elliotdale and Coffee Bay.

Police spokesperson Brig Tembinkosi Kinana said a 32-year-old male suspect was arrested in connection with the murders and taken in for questioning.

“It is alleged that the suspect, who cannot be identified until his court appearance, had escaped from Dabekweni locality in Kwaaiman after the incident to find refuge in King William’s Town,” said Kinana.

“Details on how he found his way to Ginsberg are still under investigation. The suspect is yet to be interviewed by the detectives to establish the truth behind the tragic axe murders ... At the time of the arrest, the suspect is believed to have been preparing to flee SA back to his home country.”

The case once again places the spotlight on the scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide that continues to plague the country, even during the 16 Days of Activism campaign.

The campaign takes place from November 25 (International day of No Violence Against Women) to December 10 (international Human Rights Day).

While many women and children have died without making the news, here is a list of just five GBV cases that took place over the period in the last two years:

Gomolemo Legae

The 18-year-old from Ramosadi, outside Mahikeng in the North West, was brutally murdered on December 1 2019.

Legae was stabbed several times before being doused with petrol and set alight while she was still alive.

TimesLIVE reported she was still able to talk when the community gathered to help her and allegedly named Karabo Bahurutshe, 19, as the suspect. Bahurutshe appeared at the Mmabatho magistrate's court on charges of murder and rape.

KwaZulu-Natal woman

An unnamed KwaZulu-Natal woman had her arms chopped off and her skull cracked, allegedly by her husband, in full view of her two-year-old child on December 3 2019.

TimesLIVE reported that gruesome attack on the 35-year-old woman took place in uMkhuze, in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

The woman was airlifted to St Augustine's Hospital in Durban, where she underwent a number of surgical procedures, including one to reattach her arms.

Thandi Mathebula

Mathebula, 39, and her daughter Sharon, 17, were found dead at their home in Bela Bela in Limpopo.

The SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) employee and her daughter were found dead on December 10 2019.

Police said a 37-year-old man who allegedly killed his wife and stepdaughter took his life by driving into a truck.

Precious Ramabulana

Last year's campaign started on a sombre note after news broke of Ramabulana's death.

The Capricorn TVET College student, was murdered in her rented room at ga-Joel Section in Mokomene, Limpopo, on November 24 2019, allegedly being stabbed 52 times.

TimesLIVE reported that Ramabulana was asleep when the suspect, Aubrey Manaka, gained entry through the window and attacked her.

Manaka, appeared in court earlier this year, where his lawyers revealed he intended to plead not guilty.

Nomvelo Dlamini

Dlamini from KwaZulu-Natal was dragged into a forest and stabbed to death by a man police identified as her boyfriend on the weekend of December 1 2018.

She was waiting for a bus with her sister and children when she was confronted by her boyfriend, who allegedly stabbed her 12 times before fleeing the scene.


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now