President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed embarrassment over government’s failure to fulfill the promises made to the family of slain eight-year-old Tazne Van Wyk from Elsies River in Cape Town.
Ramaphosa met with the family following the discovery of the little girl’s body in February this year. She had been missing for about two weeks. The case highlighted the parole system after it was discovered that the girl’s murderer had been released on parole in 2016.
Ramaphosa said that government would improve the living conditions of the family. Last night, Tazne’s mother, Carmen, addressed Ramaphosa during a virtual ANC Men’s Dialogue on gender-based violence. In response, the President said his office would urgently attend to the matter
“I want to apologise to you that I made certain pronouncements and I’m very sorry and embarrassed that that has not happened. This very week, I was asked by somebody and said did we say we are going to build a wendy house for the Van Wyk family? I said there’s just no way that I could ever have said we are going to build a wendy house. Doctor Olive Shisana in my office is going to be in touch with you and we are going to take this matter forward and we are going to see to it that what we did say to you will happen.”
In the video below, Tazne van Wyk is laid to rest:
