Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) President Velenkosini Hlabisa says the law should be tough on criminals who abuse women and children. Hlabisa was addressing inter-faith organisations in uMthwalume, on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.
The party is leading a prayer service following the recovery of women’s bodies in a forest within a sugar cane plantation.
Two bodies were found on Tuesday and Wednesday. Police have confirmed that two people have been taken in for questioning following the discovery of the bodies at the sugarcane plantation.
Hlabisa has called on men to be in the forefront in the war against the abuse and killing of women.
“We want to mobilise our society to stand up especially men to be in the forefront. This is the war that we must take head on as makes because females on their own cannot do anything they have cried and this has gone for too long and we say enough is enough,” the IFP leader says.
SABC’s Vusi Khumalo speaks to concerned residents:
Serial killer suspected to be behind killings
The recent discovery of women’s bodies in sugarcane fields is not new in Umthwalume. In 2018, the body of Bajabulile Duma was also found in a sugarcane field. Akhona and Nelisiwe Gumede went missing in March 2020 and their bodies were found a month later in a sugarcane plantation.
The bodies of Nelisiwe Dube, Zama Chiliza and the recent unidentified half-naked body found on Wednesday bring to six the number of women who were dumped in sugar cane fields after being murdered.
Some of the bodies were badly decomposed, but it has been established that some victims were raped, while some were also missing body parts.
Police suspect that a serial killer might be behind the killing of the five women found in the area this year.
In the video below, two people taken for questioning over the matter:
