Latest news with #UyineneMrwetyana
TimesLIVE
3 days ago
- TimesLIVE
South Africa's children are under siege — and it's all our baby now
As the country commemorates National Child Protection Week from May 29 to June 5 to raise awareness about the rights of children, we are once again reminded that this moment of reflection is not symbolic. It is urgent. The latest crime statistics from the South African Police Service for the third quarter of the 2024/25 financial year (October to December 2024) reveal a distressing escalation of violence against children. During this period, 273 children were murdered, 480 were victims of attempted murder, and 2,164 suffered assaults with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. These figures are not mere numbers; they represent young lives lost or irrevocably damaged. They signify a society failing its most vulnerable members. These figures are not abstractions. They are children with names, birthdays, families and futures that will never be realised. They are the silent dead in a country that is becoming disturbingly accustomed to the normalisation of violence. A nation desensitised, a system in decay The high rates of violence against children are not isolated incidents. They are the logical outcome of a deeply unequal society with weakened protective systems and an eroded social contract. Despite a progressive legal framework — the Children's Act, the Sexual Offences Act, the Child Justice Act — enforcement continues to falter. A recent report by our long-standing partner, the Teddy Bear Foundation, found that of more than 5,000 reported child abuse cases from 2019 to 2024, only 4% resulted in convictions. Four per cent! The rest were withdrawn, many due to lack of evidence or absence of witnesses; this is a telling sign of a justice system ill-equipped to protect those most in need of its care. This failure is not technical. It is structural. It reveals a system where the burden to speak, to testify, to prove harm, still rests on traumatised children, often without access to support or protection. What we are seeing is not a justice system working poorly, but a justice system not working at all for children. The statistics are numbing. But the stories behind them are searing. We remember Uyinene Mrwetyana, murdered in 2019 — a case that galvanised a national reckoning and ignited the #AmINext movement. Her murder should have been the turning point. Instead, it has joined a litany of tragedies still unfolding.
The Herald
6 days ago
- General
- The Herald
From Uyinene to Olorato: GBV cases that sparked a national outcry
As South Africa grapples with an alarmingly high rate of gender-based violence (GBV) incidents, numerous cases have sparked a widespread outrage and calls for urgent action. Nine-hundred-and-fifty seven women were murdered between July and September 2024 and thousands more were victims of attempted murder. The recent murder of Olorato Mongale has reignited the debate on GBV Here are some notable cases that have shocked the nation. 1. Olorato Mongale, 30 What seemed to be an innocent date turned into a nightmare for Mongale. Her body was found near Lombardy West after she went on a date with her alleged killer. The man allegedly drove with the victim, killed her and dumped her body. 2. Uyinene Mrwetyana, 19 A University of Cape Town student was brutally raped and murdered inside a post office in 2019. She went to the post office to collect a parcel she had bought online. 3. Tshegofatso Pule, 28 Her heavily pregnant body, covered in blood, was found hanging from a tree after she was shot dead in June 2020 in Durban Deep, Roodepoort. She was eight months pregnant at the time. The police established that her boyfriend, Ntuthuko Shoba, hired a hitman to kill her. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2022. 4. Reeva Steenkamp, 29 A model and reality TV star who was shot and killed by her boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius, in 2013, claiming that he thought it was an intruder. The case drew international attention and raised questions about domestic violence and gun control. 5. Nosicelo Mtebeni, 23 The Fort Hare student was brutally killed and dismembered in August 2021 by her boyfriend. Her body parts were found in a suitcase near a dump site in East London 6. Karabo Mokoena, 22 The young woman was brutally murdered by her boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe who initially claimed Karabo committed suicide in April 2017. She went missing and her body was found a few days later burnt in a field in Lyndhurst, Johannesburg. Her case sparked widespread outrage and calls for justice. 7. Chesnay Keppler, 22 A crime prevention warden who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend, a police officer, in 2022. 8. Gontse Ntseza, 19 A murdered young woman whose body was found under a bridge in Hammanskraal in 2024 after going missing after a night out with friends. 9. Nomsa Jass, 26 Jass went missing after she left her place of work in Potchefstroom, North West. Her body was found in Carletonville in Gauteng. 10. Hannah Cornelius, 21 Cornelius, a Stellenbosch university student was abducted by a gang in Stellenbosch in May 2017 after a night out, which led to her being raped and murdered.
