Johannesburg - The EFF intends to sue the SA Post Office (Sapo) and Communications, Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams for the brutal murder of University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana in one of its branches.
EFF leader Julius Malema on Thursday announced that the party would team up with Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi to institute the lawsuit against Sapo and its political head Ndabeni-Abrahams after consulting Mrwetyana’s family after her funeral, which is scheduled for this weekend.
"We have assembled a legal team to take legal action against the Post Office and the Minister of Communications. This is because the safety of those served by the Post Office is the responsibility of the Post Office and the Minister of Communications,” he said.
Malema said Mrwetyana’s killer was a Sapo employee and had a criminal record.
”A responsible government and employer should have known this. By employing a person with a criminal record the minister and the government were assuming the risk of such an incident happening against any member of the public,” he said.
Mrwetyana, 19, went missing after visiting the Clareinch post office, where a 42-year-old Sapo clerk allegedly raped and murdered the teenager before dumping her body in Khayelitsha, where the man lived. Her body was discovered by police on Saturday.
Malema said: ”The power of the law must precisely be so effective that it is observed by all in public and domestic spaces because they know there are consequences”.
According to Malema, it was up to the police and the criminal justice system to take full responsibility for why rape and murder of women and children has become part of the daily lives of South Africans.
"In a single week, the country has witnessed kidnapping, rape and murder of women and children by men,” said Malema, referring to Mrwetyana, female boxing champion Leighandre “Baby Lee” Jegels, Janika Mallo, Ayakha Jiyani and her three siblings.