Durban - KwaZulu-Natal Premier, Sihle Zikalala, has launched a provincial campaign against the scourge of Gender-Based Violence.
Zikalala, accompanied by Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Bheki Ntuli, Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza and Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Khombinkosi Jula, visited the area of Mthwalume on the KZN south coast where the bodies of five women were found in a sugarcane field in recent months.
Zikalala said as government, they have seen the challenges facing the Mthwalume community.
He said while police investigations were continuing, as government, there is a need to look at factors within society that led to GBV.
“We need to work together with communities in an effort to bring back ubuntu and eliminate drugs and criminal activities that are prevalent in the area,” he said.
The delegation also visited with the families of those women killed in the area by an alleged serial killer.
Mthwalume has been in the spotlight in recent weeks after the bodies of five women were found in sugarcane fields near Nomakhanzana.
Two men were arrested in connection with the murders. One of the accused has since committed suicide. He is believed to have hanged himself inside a shower at a holding cell. The second man was released due to lack of evidence.
At the weekend, a group of people on their way to work discovered a charred body at the side of the road.
The body was covered in plastic and dumped at the side of the road.
Provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Jay Naicker, said the body was so badly burnt that police at the scene could not determine if it was a male of female body.
"The body was burnt beyond recognition and covered in plastic. Indications are that this person was killed elsewhere, the body was burnt and then dumped on the roadside," he said.
Police have since confirmed that the latest discovery is not linked to other murders.
The Mercury