Women’s Month in the real world — grim and nasty like every other month

As the SA Police Service released shocking crime figures, the country was reeling from the details of the cruel murder of 23-year-old Fort Hare student Nosicelo Mtebeni on 19 August.

Mtebeni was murdered and butchered, and her body was stuffed into black bags and a suitcase, allegedly by her boyfriend, Alutha Pasile. Some of her remains were found outside the 25-year-old man’s house. More body parts were later found inside.

Pasile was arrested and appeared in the East London Magistrates’ Court on Monday. He has since abandoned his bail application and the matter was postponed to 28 September for further investigation.

On Sunday a Limpopo police officer, Sergeant Shumani Munyia, stationed at Vuwani Police Station, allegedly shot and killed his wife, Ndivhuwo Munyai, and later turned the gun on himself.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said the off-duty officer shot his wife shortly after she returned from visiting a neighbour.

On Saturday morning, in Reitz, Free State, police arrested a 31-year-old man in connection with the murder of a female police constable. Her body was found lying near the Reitz swimming pool. She had allegedly been strangled. The man arrested was her boyfriend.

In Thembalethu, near George, residents are traumatised by the murder of eight-year-old Imange Jantjies. The boy was allegedly stabbed multiple times by his mother’s boyfriend after a domestic altercation.

These murders come days after the Western Cape High Court sentenced Moegamat Fortuin to two life sentences and 10 years’ imprisonment on Monday 17 August.

Fortuin confessed to killing his girlfriend, Melvina Annestacia Adler, and her 10-year-old son, Jovante Clyde Deelan, who tried to stop Fortuin from killing his mother on 8 November 2020.

On the day of the murders, she had informed Fortuin that she had had an abortion. He left the house to buy petrol with the intention of setting the house alight. 

He used a hammer to beat Adler and when Jovante attempted to intervene, attacked the boy with the weapon. On 12 August 2021 he pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Pastor Nosey Pieterse lamented the violence.

“I’ve made four videos where I speak to it from a Christian biblical perspective. The title of the videos is GBV in the Bible and there you will see the origin of patriarchy, you will see how this sickness came out in Bible times and how every generation has been a victim thereof,” he told Maverick Citizen.

Mawethu Sila, the chairperson of the Kraaifontein Community Policing Forum (CPF), said it was tragic that women were not safe in their homes.

“I think we need to be upfront as men and this thing shouldn’t be generalised. It must be focused on the particular person who commits these crimes. There should be dedicated courts that specialise in these types of crimes even if it means that perpetrators should be transferred to that court,” said Sila.

Sila believes it is high time that men take a stand against GBV. 

“It should just be something that is part of the daily routine,” he said.

Bonteheuwel ward councillor Angus McKenzie (DA) said abusive men should not be allowed to “roam free”.

“We are taking this motivation and action to stop the sexual and hate crimes and the abuse of our children across the city to every single community because we cannot allow this sort of thing to happen,” McKenzie said.

Patric Solomons, director of Child Rights group Molo Songololo, has spoken of “familicide” to describe intra-family murder.

These crimes, Solomons said, were fuelled by social, cultural and religious factors, and beliefs that promoted male dominance and superiority over women and children.

“Familicide, like femicide, is about loss of control, power, humiliation, dishonour, shame, guilt, inadequacy and revenge that drive men to lash out as an act of ‘power’ to abuse, attack and kill their partners and children,” he said.

The killing of children, Solomons said, was driven by anger and the need to destroy what “belonged” to and was “loved” by their partners — their children.

“Men can play a bigger role in socialising men to become non-violent, prevent gender-based violence and hold other men accountable. These murders will continue and increase if we don’t prioritise, prevent and combat it,” Solomon said. 

On Monday, 23 August, the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, condemning the murder of Mtebeni, noted that femicide continued through Women’s Month to each day of the year.

The Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize, said: “Places of higher learning have seen an increase in incidents of sexual harassment, bullying, intimate partner violence, gender-based violence, femicide, and sexual and gender identity tolerance.

“We need to break cycles of toxic masculinity that destroy the lives of women and men, especially on campuses, where there is a concentration of young leaders who must develop the South Africa of tomorrow.” DM/MC