Police are still searching for the suspect in the brutal murder and rape of a Gugulethu woman.
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Police are still searching for the suspect in the murder and rape of a Gugulethu woman on Friday.
Namhla Nomqa, 22, was found face down next to the perimeter wall of a home in NY 89. Her hands had been tied behind her back and her pants pulled down. She had been assaulted, had lost an eye, and a bloodied brick lay next to her body.
Just six months earlier, her brother, 27-year-old Yanda Nomqa, was murdered in nearby Philippi.
Also on Friday evening, eight-year-old Shafeeka Baartman from Uniondale was found raped and murdered in a home in Dekella Circle in the Karoo town. Her body was found shortly after her mother had sent her to a friend’s house to fetch money.
Police spokeswoman Captain Bernadine Steyn said while Shafeeka had been on her way to the house, a suspect had approached her on foot and taken her to his house in Dekella Circle where he allegedly raped and murdered her.
“She was found with a scarf around her neck and her legs tied with clothes,” Steyn said.
A preliminary autopsy report suggested Shafeeka had been strangled.
On Saturday, police arrested a 31-year-old man on a farm outside Uniondale in connection with the murder and rape. He was due to appear in Uniondale Magistrate’s Court today.
The two incidents occurred shortly before Monday’s launch of the national 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children, based on an international UN initiative.
The Western Cape launch of the programme by the provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Arno Lamoer, was scheduled for this morning in the Weltevreden community hall in Samora Machel, Nyanga, – less than 3km from where Nomqa’s body was found.
“The death of Namhla will be a rallying call at the launch. We condemn the murder in the strongest terms and vow that the perpetrator will be brought to book,” Lamoer told the Cape Argus early on Monday.
“Our message at the launch will be that 16 days needs to be converted into 365 days of activism. The struggle against gender violence is ongoing, around the clock.”
The campaign was being supported by Men For Change, an organisation of men who stand against rape and gender violence, Lamoer said, stressing that the emphasis of gender activism was all too often placed on the victims and on what they should and should not be doing.
“This year we would like to focus on targeting and educating men,” he said.
Phumla Williams, acting chief executive of the government’s communication service, said the government was doing all it could to fight child and women abuse.
“We introduced the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign to conscientise South Africans of the unacceptably high levels of violence and abuse against women and children.
“While, as a society, we rightly express our shock, condemnation and disbelief at these atrocious crimes (against women and children), there is a desperate need for early action. It is in our power and within our means as South Africans, even in the smallest of ways, to contribute to the fight against the abuse of women and children.”
Police have asked anyone with information about Nomqa’s murder to contact Crime Stop at 08600 10111.
* Police are investigating a double murder and an attempted murder in Kleinvlei after a man and a woman were shot dead and another man wounded.
Provincial police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said the shooting in Impala Street was reported on Saturday afternoon.
The circumstances are being investigated but police have reports that there was one, unidentified, attacker.
* In Hanover Park a 28-year-old man was shot dead early on Sunday at the taxi rank.
Police are investigating a murder case. No arrests had been made by late Sunday afternoon.
daneel.knoetze@inl.co.za
Cape Argus