Residents in Naledi, Soweto, are pleading with the government to help stop the high number of female murders in the area.
Lerato Moloi’s body was found in the veld in Naledi by passers-by. Hers was one of four female bodies found in the township over a weekend two weeks ago.
It is believed she was raped by friends before they murdered her.
Her alleged killers, Petros Mokgethi and Jackson Alofeyo, appeared in the Protea Magistrate’s Court last week. The case was postponed to Monday.
Moloi was buried over the weekend.
Diketso Tladi, an ANC Women’s League young women desk regional executive, said the criminal scourge in Naledi was dire.
She said women were not free to walk in the streets.
“These things had been happening in the past years, but this year it is worse. We found bodies in a short period of time in this area and others
in Soweto.
“I think this also motivated other killers to kill innocent souls.
“The Community Safety Department needs to do something about this. It needs to beef up security. We, as women, are scared. We don’t feel safe in our community, we can’t even walk freely in the streets. And now we feel enough is enough.”
Tladi said the government needed to step up and protect them because the community had given it
a mandate.
Naledi Community Police Forum (CPF) chairperson Tebogo Jiyane said the community
was not safe because women keep being attacked
and murdered.
“We are hurt,” he said. “We lost our sisters and community members. We, as the CPF, have been trying to raise our concerns that resources are needed. The CPF plays a big role in the community; it helped identify the culprits who killed Lerato.
“We need the MEC (for Community Safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane) to come up with something to strengthen the CPF.
“We need uniforms and resources. We cannot allow these perpetrators to come and do as they
please in our community. Our sisters and children are dying.
“These guys are killing the innocent souls in our communities. We also need the government to intervene or else we will take the law into our own hands. We will burn these killers,” Jiyane said.
Nkosi-Malobane said the government had engaged with other communities to help solve the situation.
“Some CPF members in Ekurhuleni are receiving a stipend and uniforms so they can put more effort into doing a good job. The government had also introduced the security courses which take two weeks for the patrollers and the CFP to develop their skills, and we are also doing it in Ekurhuleni. We are going to do it in other areas.
“Obviously we can’t take them all at once, so we will select a group of people to attend the courses every year to beef up security in the communities.”