This gruesome killing occurs within 24 hours of Sandile Mantsoe being found guilty of murdering Karabo Mokoena
PRETORIA, South Africa, May 4, 2018,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- It is with a profound sense of regret that we woke up to the news of the violent killing of yet another young woman, Zolile Khumalo, a student from Mangosuthu University of Technology. Khumalo was allegedly shot by her boyfriend on Tuesday, 2 May 2018.
This gruesome killing occurs within 24 hours of Sandile Mantsoe being found guilty of murdering Karabo Mokoena. Although it is not our intention to pre-empt the motive behind Khumalo’s killing, it is clear that young women are not safe in our society.
We call on all student bodies to introduce awareness programs on gender violence. Our universities and other institutions of higher learning must take precautionary measures to improve security to ensure the safety of students in their care. It is not acceptable that someone could easily breach security to commit such a heinous crime.
We wish to offer our deepest condolences to the Khumalo’s family, friends and her fellow students. Our social services should be on call to provide support to the family in its period of grief. We call on our law enforcement agencies to swiftly investigate the murder and bring the perpetrator to book.
We condemn in the strongest terms the killing of Khumalo and trust that our justice system will prevail the same way it did in the case of Mantsoe. The sentencing of Mantsoe should send a stern warning to all other perpetrators of violence against women to desist from committing such deplorable acts. We have full confidence in our law enforcement that those implicated in the murder of Khumalo will be brought to book.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of Government Communication and Information.
