By Dominique Herman
If Nandipha Makeke had made it to the police station in Khayelitsha the night she was raped almost two years ago, it would have been one of more than 80 cases to be reported at that police station that month.
But the 18-year-old, HIV-positive high school girl was murdered. A man has subsequently confessed to Makeke's rape and murder and he has implicated three other men. The DNA of one of the others was found on Makeke's body.
Yet despite a confession and DNA evidence, the case has yet to move from the Khayelitsha magistrate's court. And it has been postponed 17 times.
Most recently, on November 8, it was postponed due to insufficient evidence being available, according to Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) researcher Nosisa Mhlathi. On the two occasions before that, it was postponed due to the absence of the accused's attorney.
Sitting below a photograph of his daughter, Pinki Makeke said the routine postponements had made his family lose hope.
"If this is how long it has taken to get justice for Nandipha's family and friends, how much longer does it take for justice to be done in the vast majority of cases where there is no community mobilisation?" said Mhlathi.
"Enough is enough now," TAC women's rights campaign co-ordinator Nomfundo Eland said.
The TAC estimates that one in three South African women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes - the worst rate in the world for a country not at war - while the government estimates that only one in nine women who are raped report their attack to the police.
"This is not the first time - women's dignity is falling apart," said Norute Nobola from Positive Women's United. "When we go to the police station to report rape in Khayelitsha, they ask us to explain what we were wearing, what time of the night it was," she said, Eland translating.
The next court date in the Makeke case is in February. A public meeting will be held at the stadium opposite the Khayelitsha Magistrate's Court today from 10am to 2pm, to which police investigators and the prosecutor have been invited to speak on the process.
Khayelitsha public prosecutor Canon Gusha said on Tuesday that he did not know why the case had been postponed and he would only be able to find out today. He will not attend the TAC meeting.