CAPE TOWN - Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane attended the funeral of a slain 6-year-old girl in Mdantsane in East London on Wednesday.
Inathi Mhlahlo went missing last Monday, October 26, while on her way to the local shop to buy crisps and sweets.
After she failed to return home, the family and community frantically searched for her and hours later her half-naked body was found in the bushes.
Speaking at her funeral, Mabuyane called rapists and murderers of women and children outcasts.
“Yes, we can rehabilitate a thief and we can rehabilitate a drug dealer. But rapists and murderers of women and children should not fall under the category of offenders that should be rehabilitated.
“They should be regarded as outcasts of society because they commit serious violent crimes that should not happen in our society in the first place,” he said.
Mabuyane told mourners it was the leniency shown towards offenders which led them to repeat their offences even when they are released on parole.
“Offenders are too comfortable inside our jails, they see our jails as holiday excursions.
“In an ideal world, people will not rape and murder women, because they know if they are caught they will face the harshest conditions in prison, but sadly in our country it is the opposite,” he said.
Mabuyane, who visited the family home on Monday, said Inathi’s mother crept into his heart when she told him her daughter had aspired to be a model or a doctor.
Mabuyane said a different approach needed to be implemented urgently to prevent these types of violent crime from occurring, and offenders should be punished harshly within the legal framework.
According to Eyewitness News (EWN), in a case of mob justice, residents from Mdantsane on Friday assaulted and killed a man who they claimed killed Inathi.
African News Agency