LGBTI community member Thabiso Motaung beaten, humiliated and stripped naked in Khayelitsha

Thabiso Motaung was assaulted in Khayelitsha. Picture: Supplied

Thabiso Motaung was assaulted in Khayelitsha. Picture: Supplied

Published Jan 13, 2023

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Cape Town – Three young girls who assaulted and stripped naked Thabiso Motaung, 19, who is a member of the LGBTI community - are expected to appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

Motaung said she was shocked by the incident as she considered the three suspects her friends.

I was beaten up, humiliated and stripped naked by people who I refer to as my friends,” recalled 19-year-old Motaung.

She said she was brutally assaulted by the three women as she was apparently “disobedient” towards them.

According to Motaung, the alleged perpetrators even threatened to burn her home while they were beating her up.

Motaung said she didn’t think she would heal any time soon, because they also tried to bury her alive after the humiliation.

When Motaung’s aunt Yofezwa Lose addressed the #justiceforthabiso group on Facebook, she said the situation was very bad, because she walked from Khayelitsha C section to section D naked.

Everything she was wearing had been ripped off her body.

“They humiliated her badly in such a way that they stripped her naked and after beating her up they played with Thabiso’s body parts on video … that is on record,” Lose added.

“Thabiso is not okay emotionally after the abuse she suffered from people she referred to as friends. Thabiso will be doing Grade 12 this year.”

Lose said that although Motaung was currently not okay mentally and emotionally, she was trying to be strong and overcome the situation, because the video of her trending is very painful to look at.

She also confirmed that this Friday there would be a peaceful march that is going to take place in support of Thabiso at the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court.

They will be demanding that the perpetrators should not be granted bail.

“These perpetrators have no right to be in our community, because if they can do that to someone they refer to as their friend what else can they do to other people in the community?”

Lose said they couldn’t get away with what they did, just because they were female.

The three suspects are expected to appear at the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

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