A man accused of brutally killing his girlfriend in Mahikeng’s Montshioa township, North West, has abandoned bail.
Themba Phakalane, 44, was arrested on Saturday after he allegedly killed his girlfriend, 35-year-old Kedilatile Seitshiro. He is believed to have bludgeoned her to death with a hammer.
Phakalane made a brief appearance at the Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The cowardly and senseless murder saw angry community members retaliating and burning Phakalane’s family home.
Concern as GBV cases escalate
Seitshiro’s murder comes two weeks after Dikeledi Sejake was killed by her boyfriend in Wolmaranstad.
During the release of the third-quarter (2024/25) crime statistics for the province earlier this month, North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Wessels Morweng, stated that crime in the province has declined.
The stats showed that there was a 3.9% overall decrease in crime recorded for this period. However, a concern was made about police stations that continue to register high crime rates. Mmabatho police station, where Seitshiro’s case was reported, recorded the highest number of attempted sexual offences. This ranked the province the second in the country.
The report also stated that crimes in Ngaka Modiri Molema, a district where Seitshiro resided, include assault, murder and stock theft.
Murder cases decline, but GBV is not
A total of 26, 999 cases were reported in the province. Of these, 11, 958 were in Bojanala, and 6, 580 in Dr Kenneth Kaunda. A further 5530 were in Ngaka Modiri Molema, and 2931 were in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati district.
Morweng said at that time that murder cases went down by 48.14% compared to the previous year. He said it is still worth noting that Boitekong in Rustenburg, Mmabatho in Mahikeng and Kanana in Orkney had reported more cases.
Furthermore, he said there had been 10 multiple murder cases resulting in 24 deaths. Ngaka Modiri Molema recorded an increase in the number of murder cases.
The Phakalane case was postponed to May 26 for further investigations.
