Cape town - Zwelihle residents, community and faith leaders are expected to participate in a protest march to Hermanus Magistrate’s Court today to apply pressure on local police who have yet to name any suspects involved in the brutal murder of Sisipho Mayile.
Mayile, a 21-year-old matric pupil at Qhayiya Secondary School in Hermanus, went missing on January 16, nine days before her decomposing body was discovered in the bushes near Camphill Bridge in the seaside tourist town.
Speaking to the Cape Argus, Zwelihle councillor Masibongwe Sihlahla said residents were frustrated with the lack of progress in Mayile’s case, which seemed to be sending the wrong message to GBV perpetrators.
“It has been months since this horrific murder was committed. In a small town such as ours, we don’t understand why it’s taking so long for police to apprehend the suspect or suspects involved.
“We will not rest until the person behind this is arrested and faces the fullest might of the law. GBV cases are sensitive cases that need to be treated with priority and all the attention they deserve. Hermanus is fast becoming a place riddled with violence against women and children, and that’s something we will not sit by and watch happenHowever, we need our police and justice system to work with us, not against us,” he said.
Speaker in the legislature Masizole Mnqasela is expected to join the march. Mnqasela, in his capacity as a constituency head of the Overstrand Municipality, is expected to hand over a memorandum of demands to the Provincial Police Commissioner Thembisile Patekile, demanding justice for Mayile.
“South Africa has a major GBV problem, with numerous daily incidents of murder, rape, harassment and abuse of women in particular. I am calling on communities across the province to speak out against all forms of GBV,” Mnqasela said.