A candlelight vigil held for Hillary Gardee in May last year. The daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee was abducted and her body found in a field in Mbombela. Picture: Oupa Mokoena/African News Agency (ANA)
Pretoria - South Africa’s policing system has been blamed for the spate of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) cases that have bedevilled the country in the past few years.
The criticism follows the rape and murder of Sonia Madume Mokalapa, 18, daughter of EFF Gauteng regional leader Portia Mokalapa.
Mokalapa is the third daughter of an EFF leader to be raped and killed in the past three years.
In May 2021, Hillary Gardee, 28, the daughter of former EFF secretary-general Godrich Gardee, was abducted while out shopping with her 8-year-old daughter. She went missing for days before her body was discovered near a plantation near Mpumalanga’s capital city, Mbombela.
Several men have been arrested in connection with her rape and murder, but none have undergone trial.
In 2022, Lindokuhle Makotshi, 14, adopted daughter of EFF parliamentarian Kenny Motsamai, was raped and poisoned in Katlehong on the East Rand on June 27. She was hospitalised but succumbed to the poisoning two days later.
A 25-year-old man known to her was arrested in connection with the rape and murder, but no conviction has been recorded.
Over the weekend, Mokalapa discovered her daughter’s body stuffed in her bed after she was reportedly raped and strangled.
This has sent shivers down the spines of EFF members and the Katlehong community.
“We are deeply troubled by the gruesome and inhumane murder of the daughter of the Regional Command Team of Ekurhuleni, Fighter Portia Mokalapa. Fighter Portia left for home in Limpopo on Thursday and left her daughter back in their home in Daveyton.
“After unsuccessfully making calls to check on her, she sent people to check in their home, only for them to find no one inside the house. There were, however, signs of a break-in.
“Upon her return, she found the body of her beloved daughter stuffed in her bed. It is believed she was raped and strangled to death,” said EFF provincial chairperson Nkululeko Dunga.
Dunga said it was worrying to see so many women dying at the hands of men in South Africa.
“Women live and breathe at the mercy of bloodthirsty men. As if that’s not enough, we are further subjected to an incompetent policing and justice system. Rape and femicide has broken through the fabric of our society.
“Criminals do as they please because they know the SAPS is incapacitated. We have consistently called out the rising statistics of rape and murder in Gauteng due to police incompetence and lack of political will.”
Independent political analyst Gakwi Mashego agreed police incompetence was to blame for the GBVF chaos.
“The Institute for Security Studies and similar organisations have found our police are not effective primarily because of the non-existence of crime intelligence. The job of the police is not necessarily to arrest suspects or investigate a crime after the fact. Their job is to know when a crime is going to be committed and understand the patterns of criminals,” he said.
Pretoria News