EIGHT WOMEN DEAD - SECURITY CLUSTER MUST WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE

Mpho Dube

3 hours ago

3 min read

Ramaphosa's administration cannot afford another press conference while women are being slaughtered

Acting Police Minister Professor Firoz Cachalia — who confirmed on Tuesday night in Parktown that the number of women found murdered in Gauteng has risen to eight, with the latest body discovered in Olifantsfontein, as the Kempton Park femicide probe widens. The Azanian says the security cluster must wake up and act.

By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief

The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.

AZANIAFROCOMEDIA – The Catalyst of Impact

EIGHT bodies. Eight women. Eight mothers, sisters, daughters - dumped like rubbish in rivers, next to malls, behind hotels, on roadsides in Kempton Park, Clayville, KwaThema, Olifantsfontein.

And what do we get? Another briefing. Another "high-level meeting in Parktown." Another plea for patience.

Acting Police Minister Firoz Cachalia has now confirmed what the women of Ekurhuleni have been screaming for weeks: eight women found dead. The latest body in Olifantsfontein. Before that, a 20-something-year-old woman in her underwear in a Clayville river. Before that, a woman strangled and dumped naked in KwaThema at 3am in the rain.

South Africa is not facing a crime wave. We are facing a femicide massacre.

And the security cluster is asleep.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's administration must deal with this issue NOW. Not tomorrow. Not with another task team. NOW.

We have an Acting Police Minister. An Acting Provincial Commissioner. An SAPS boss, General Fannie Masemola, who was just vindicated and cleared by the NPA after being dragged to court on baseless PFMA charges. The top structure of policing has been destabilized, humiliated, and left to fight for its own survival while women are being hunted.

How can police hunt serial killers when the National Commissioner himself was in the dock? How can detectives focus when IDAC is charging the very people who should be leading the war on GBV?

Ramaphosa must wake up. The security cluster — SAPS, NPA, Justice, State Security — must wake up and smell the coffee.

Brigadier Athlenda Mathe says "so far, there are no linkages yet" and "we are not going to rush."

With respect, General, women don't have time for you not to rush.

July 15 — first woman found near R21, cable-tied, naked.August 24 — second woman, bruised, partially clothed, same R21. September 10 — third woman, Rhodesfield, decomposed. September 12 — Elizabeth "Tsontso" Moselakgomo, 38, killed during her afternoon jog. Her 8-year-old daughter raised the alarm when Mama didn't come home.September 14 — fifth woman, Olifantsfontein.

September 7 — Clayville woman in river, only now counted. September 16 — KwaThema woman strangled. September 16 night — eighth body, Olifantsfontein again.

Same corridor. Same modus: women partially clothed or naked, dumped, strangled. If that is not a linkage, what is?

Listen to Zanele Shabalala in KwaThema: "We are afraid. We are no longer safe in this community. We call on the government to do something so that we can be free as women."

That is not a resident speaking. That is the nation speaking.

The Azanian demands:

1. President Ramaphosa must go to Kempton Park himself. Not send an Acting Minister. Go. Look at the families.

2. Return General Masemola to full duty immediately. The NPA has cleared him. He must lead this hunt.

3. Deploy the best forensic and serial crimes investigators in the country to Ekurhuleni - TODAY.

4. Declare this a serial femicide investigation and issue a public safety alert for women in Gauteng.

We cannot have a government that can find R2 billion for a healthcare tender but cannot find killers dumping women like animals.

Eight women are dead. The ninth should not be next.

Wake up, security cluster. Wake up, Presidency. The coffee is burning.