/ 8 December 2016

Swelindawo was not killed because she was lesbian, says deputy police minister

One of Noluvo Swelindawo's last selfies.
One of Noluvo Swelindawo's last selfies.

Khayelitsha resident Noluvuyo Swelindawo was not killed because she was lesbian, Deputy Police Minister Maggie Sotyu said on Thursday.

“It had nothing to do with that,” Sotyu said at public meeting in Belhar.

She said that people known to Swelindawo had killed her following an argument that started at a tavern.

Swelindawo’s body was found at a footbridge near the Driftsands Nature Reserve on Sunday. She died from a single gunshot wound.

Signice Mdani, 24, appeared in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday after being charged with her murder on Monday.

LGBT activists from the Triangle Project organisation attended proceedings. They spoke of the threats they faced because of their sexuality.

Swelindawo, 22, was a member of Triangle and attended their weekly LGBT meetings in Driftsands.

On Thursday morning, Sotyu attended the court appearance of Sibongile Nondyola, 27, in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court. He is accused of beating and killing Nopinkie Fuba, 31, with a rod.

Her body was found in a communal block in Site C, Khayelitsha, on Monday.

Nondyola, who witnesses allegedly saw attacking Fuba, would remain in custody until his bail application on January 5.

Sotyu voiced her disappointment at the killing of police officers. Four were killed in the province in less than a week in November.

“We can’t afford to lose our men and women in blue the way it is happening in the Western Cape. We are trying to get more police deployed in this province, but the way we are losing them, it will come to a point where we won’t have more resources to deploy.” – News24