Cape Town - Police have arrested a man in his twenties following the death of 17-year-old Amahle Quku whose body was discovered Saturday morning.
Western Cape police spokesperson Andrè Traut said that the circumstances surrounding Quku's death was being investigated by Nyanga police.
"The circumstances surrounding the death of a 17-year-old girl are being investigated by Nyanga police after her naked body was discovered in Albert Luthuli Street in Browns Farm yesterday morning at around 7am.
"The exact cause of her death is yet to be determined. Our investigation led to the arrest of a man in his twenties who is detained for questioning regarding the murder.The investigation is still underway and further details cannot be disclosed at this stage," Traut said.
Quku's death comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the country on the easing of lockdown regulations on Wednesday night, where he made a point to include femicide.
“It is with the heaviest of hearts that I stand before the women and girls of South Africa this evening to talk about another pandemic that is raging in our country – the killing of women and children by the men of our country.
“As a man, as a husband and as a father, I am appalled at what is no less than a war being waged against the women and children of our country.”
Ramaphosa specifically mentioned the case of eight month pregnant Tshegofatse Pule, 28, who was found murdered and hanging from a tree last week, Altecia Kortje, 27, who was murdered along with her 7-year-old daughter in Belhar and the case of Mossel Bay woman Naledi Phangidawo, 26, who was stabbed and hacked to death allegedly by the father of two of her three children.
“I want to assure the women and children of South Africa that our criminal justice system will remain focused on gender-based violence cases and that we can expect more arrests and more prosecutions against perpetrators to follow. The perpetrators of violence against women and children must receive sentences that fit the horrific crimes they commit.
“It is deeply disturbing that the spike in crimes against women and children has coincided with the easing of the coronavirus lockdown,” Ramaphosa said.