Norah Dyantyi’s life never extended beyond her village, but news of her death reverberated throughout her province, highlighting the scourge of South Africa’s gruesome crime rate.
On March 4, the mutilated body of the 52-year-old single mother was found outside her two-room house, in the village of Etholeni, near Butterworth in the impoverished Eastern Cape.
Her throat and genitals were carved out, while her body was covered with multiple stab wounds.
”I am numb with shock, the brutality of my aunt’s killing is blood chilling,” Nothemba Thini said.
She was the 10th victim in a spate of killings in the area since November, but so far only one person has been arrested.
An average of 50 people meet violent deaths every day in South Africa, making crime and law enforcement a top concern as voters head to the polls on April 22.
According to police, the brutal murders in the Eastern Cape have targetted women, with a six-year-old girl being the youngest victim of the serial killings that investigators believe were conducted by a crime syndicate.
Chairperson of the local policing forum, Nkosinathi Mdlalana, said most of the women were raped and bludgeoned with a sharp object.
”We do not know who is next, the entire community is gripped by fear. How could a human being do such a thing to another person,” he said.
Most of South Africa’s rural areas have no police stations, forcing residents to travel long distances to report crimes.
”We want government to present a comprehensive plan on how it plans to tackle rural crime,” said 67-year-old Mdlalana.
Dyantyi’s family fear her killers won’t be caught, turning her death into a statistic among the country’s many unpunished crimes.
In 2008, Mzamba village near the KwaZulu-Natal border was rocked by the murder of 13 women. Police described them as witchcraft killings, as genitals were sliced off the victims.
Provincial police spokesperson Miranda Mills said gruesome crimes in rural areas were a big concern, but investigating them was complex and challenging.
”The absence of infrastructure in rural areas makes conducting investigations difficult and challenging … there are no roads and lights,” said Mills.
When releasing annual crime statistics in July last year, the security ministry noted that poorer communities suffer more violent crimes than wealthier ones.
According to the official data, the Eastern Cape recorded 3 705 murders in 2006 and 2007, the second-highest rate in the country.
The province also ranked high in most serious crime categories, with 7 796 reported rapes, a tragic distinction topped only by the economic hub Gauteng, which had 11 114 rapes.
The same data revealed that rape figures went down by 5,2% nationwide, although sexual crimes often go unreported.
Presidential favourite Jacob Zuma has promised to strengthen the criminal justice system — although he himself has been the target of a long-running corruption investigation.
A report by the Institute of Security Studies said South Africans perceive crime levels to be worse than suggested by the official data and many believed crime is worsening.
Another recent study by anti-poverty group ActionAid revealed that almost half of South African women will be raped in their lifetime, adding that 500 000 cases of rape were committed each year.
”Rape and murder are the most common crimes in this area. In some cases sexual offences end up being settled in tribal courts, with the perpetrator only paying a fine of a cow or a bottle of brandy,” Fezeka Mantakana, director of Peddie Women’s Support centre.
The centre, which is about 120km from East London, was formed in 1997 to help victims of crime who felt failed by the police.
”Most of the victims who come to the centre for help are from very poor but violent communities,” said Mantakana.
”Women are raped and murdered in their homes, this is the most worrying concern.” – AFP
