FOLLOWING a woman’s gruesome murder, residents of Inanda, north of Durban, have been asked to be vigilant.
It is alleged that the woman, Dumazihlebi Sithole (53), from Dube Village, north of Durban, went out with friends for drinks and never returned home on Friday, 1 July.
Her body was found in Bhambayi in the Inanda area on Saturday after she was brutally rap_ed, killed and burnt.
A resident told Daily Sun she heard about the discovery of the woman’s body in one of the toilets and went to see.
She said she didn’t know who the woman was and none of the residents knew her either.
“Later on the day, I heard that she was from Dube Village, an area which is a bit far from here in Bhambayi.”
She said the woman was killed in such a brutal manner and it was terrifying.
“Whoever did this was not alone. I’m scared to even leave my house following this,” she said.
KZN MEC for social development Nonhlanhla Khoza sent her sympathies to the family and residents.
Khoza said residents should not sleep peacefully knowing that women in their area were not safe.
“We have been taken aback by this incident. It is shocking that we live with heartless people. They first attacked an innocent woman, rap_ed her, killed her and burnt her body. This is so inhumane,” she said.
MEC Khoza deemed Sithole’s murder as cruel and unusual.
She said the criminals who attacked Sithole inflicted more pain to the family and denied them an opportunity to bury her body intact.
“It is imperative that our society should change its tune by playing an active role in fighting gender-based violence (GBV) in their areas. We need to be united to end such cruelty in our communities. We shouldn’t be experiencing such cases in our areas. We are aware that there is a person somewhere who knows the criminals who killed Sithole and we want to urge them not to keep quiet, but expose all those involved,” said Khoza.
She said the community will only win the battle against GBV by uniting and isolating criminals.
Khoza said a team of social workers has been dispatched to the family to provide psycho-social support and further counselling to Sithole’s friends and family.
KZN police spokeswoman Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said a case of murder was opened at Inanda Police Station for investigation.
Gwala said on 2 July at 6.30am, police received a complaint of a murder in the public toilet in the Bhambayi area in Inanda.
“On arrival they were shown the body of a woman with a burnt face and multiple stab wounds on the brea_st, right and left thigh. The motive for the killing is unknown,” said Gwala.
— Daily Sun
