Cape Town – While the suspect charged with murdering Noluvo Swelindawo has been remanded until December 21, gender rights organisation Triangle Project has offered counselling for Swelindawo’s shaken partner Nqabisa Mkatali.
Sigcine Mdani, 24, appeared for the first time since his arrest on Monday. He has been charged with murder, kidnapping and house breaking.
The State indicated that Mdani had been charged before but had “no idea of what happened to those matters”.
It said the status of his previous cases would be clarified once his profile was completed.
Mdani asked Legal Aid lawyer Samantha Hendricks to represent him.
The State said it would be opposed to Mdani being granted bail during his application on December 21.
Twenty-two-year-old Swelindawo was abducted, assaulted and shot dead in a suspected hate crime at the weekend.
Windows to her shack were shattered and the door kicked open. Her bloodied body was found less than 200m from her Driftsands home on Sunday next to the N2 highway.
Mkatali did not attend court proceedings on Wednesday. She said she was grappling with her partner’s death and that she had not eaten since the incident.
“The police visited me saying that they wanted me to go the police station. We went there and they informed me that the minister or someone from the minister’s office want to see me.
“They said they wanted to meet with Vovo’s parent’s but I told her she did not have parents. They said they would visit her family and where she was killed. I asked them about the issue of protection, but they did not answer that,” she said.
The incident brought hate crimes against the LGBTI community under the spotlight, with gender rights groups calling for the speedy passing of the Hate Crimes Bill.
Triangle Project community engagement empowerment programme manager Sindiswa Tafeni said it was in contact with Mkatali to offer her counselling.
Mkatali had told the Cape Times that even though her cousin was held at gunpoint by someone who wanted to know her whereabouts, no protection was offered to her.
“We want protection for (Noluvo’s) girlfriend. We want protection for her family because they are not protected while the suspect’s friends are still out there. He was not alone. We are very serious about this case, that is why we want to see justice,” she said.
“These people tend to say lesbians are ‘men wannabes’ and they punish them to correct that.
“We take these cases very seriously and we demand justice for such cases. This thing of these people getting lenient sentences such as five years must come to an end.
“We want more. We want sentences that talk to people, that really make an impact to how these crimes are being viewed,” she said.
Tafeni said they were dealing with a case of a lesbian who was raped in Langa and threatened after she reported the matter to the police.
“That case is currently at the Bishop Lavis Magistrate’s Court. The victim has been placed under a place of safety. She has been threatened because she reported the case. Noluvo’s case is similar to any other case of rape and murder of a lesbian. We are tired of of our lives being taken in this way.
“Lesbians are not being respected,” she said.
Gay choreographer and radio personality Somizi Mhlongo had taken to social media following the incident, saying: “I chose not to be quiet when I see or hear in the news of corrective rape taking place somewhere in South Africa, when I hear of a young girl being murdered because she is lesbian. She did not choose to be a lesbian, she is a lesbian.
“All I am trying to say is South Africa, homophobes get it into your skull, being gay is just the same as being black or white, you don’t choose, your are that.”
Mhlongo slammed the country’s justice system, saying it had failed the LGBTI community.