Gender-based violence, accompanied by murder and rape, perpetrated with much brutality and viciousness against young women has become the country’s worst human scourge – and the time for the police and society to act decisively to curb the cold-blooded massacre is now.
What kind of society is this that turns its indiscriminate anger on its youth, kill them while in full bloom of life, with so much ease, treating human life as cheaply as if it were not priceless?
A 17-year-old girl by the name of Palesa Malatji had her tiny body desecrated – raped and murdered by heartless men who attach no value to human life.
A bright grade 12 pupil of Ntsako Secondary School, Soshanguve, Tshwane, has been denied the opportunity to achieve her ambition in the field of mathematics and science, which we are told she excelled at and had great promise of achieving much success in.
The numbers are staggering. By December last year 4 992 suspects were arrested for gender-based violence. During the period, 89 life sentences were handed down to the perpetrators. Yet the devastation continues.
To vent their frustration, pupils this week abandoned classes, took to the streets, and mounted a protest march to Rietgat police station in Soshanguve demanding justice for the young Malatji.
The police are overwhelmed. Malatji’s death will sadly not be the last.
South Africa ranks third in the Crime Index 2023 by the World Population Review, which means that unless there is a concerted effort to contain the violence, with more boots on the streets and first-rate crime intelligence activated, effective policing will continue to be an illusion.
We decry the act of barbarism that ended the life of a potential scientist.
The police must track down the rapist and murderer and bring him to book
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