EFF to sue government over Uyinene Mrwetyana's death in post office

The EFF says it will take legal action against the management of the SA Post Office as well as minister of communications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams over the alleged abduction, rape and killing of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana inside a post office.

EFF leader Julius Malema told journalists this at the party's head office in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Thursday.

Malema said the Post Office and the minister should have "done something to stop the accused" - a Post Office employee.

To this end, the party would send advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi to Cape Town to prepare a case against the minister immediately after Mrwetyana is buried.

Commenting on alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse against women within the EFF ranks named in the #AmINext movement on social media, Malema said they would not act if there was no police case number.

"Such matters should be brought to us, and we have always acted swiftly. How do we act there? Because a person just sends a DM (direct message). We are not given case numbers. We do not want to act and the next thing we are forced to pay a lot of money for reputational damage," said Malema.

The opposition party leader lambasted the police on their handling of cases relating to gender-based violence. To this end, he said, police too should take full responsibility.

Said Malema: "Women never get any help from the criminal justice system, it is most useless. It is therefore the police and criminal justice system that must take the blame [for] why rape has become reality of our daily lives."