Johannesburg – The provincial police have opened an inquest docket following the death of a Mamelodi man in police cells after he was arrested for pouring petrol over his girlfriend and setting her alight.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo said the police arrested the 55-year-old man on June 1 and he appeared in the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court for murder and attempted murder.
Masondo said due to the man dying while in police cells yesterday afternoon, the police had to open an inquest docket and conduct a post-mortem.
According to the police spokesperson, the suspect complained about pain, and the police immediately called an ambulance.
He said despite the prompt bid to get him medical attention, paramedics declared him dead in the holding cells.
Activist group #NotInMyName International called on men to stop making women's bodies their crime scene following reports of a 55-year-old man pouring petrol over his girlfriend and setting her alight.
The organisations’ secretary-general Themba Masango said the woman known as Lindiwe Zitha, the sister of former Banyana Banyana star Khabo Zitha, was fighting for her life in hospital after her boyfriend Eric Marakala poured petrol over her and set her alight last Wednesday in Mamelodi.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with her as she goes into surgery again.”
Masango said the situation was not looking good for Zitha, who was due for yet another operation.
He said NotInMyName International was angered and really crestfallen at the state of the country when it came to gender-based violence and femicide, with the country being regarded as the rape capital of the world.
“As men, we should hang our heads in shame. We are calling on all forward-thinking South Africans to stand up against this scourge of femicide and gender-based violence, particularly men, and to be the ones to stand up and fight. We cannot allow women's bodies to be crime scenes.
“We are also calling on the powers that be to make sure that when a perpetrator is arrested, the harshest of sentences are given to deter would-be perpetrators.”
Masango said the organisation would continue to focus on boy child programmes to make sure that the boy children in the country understood masculinity so that it did not become toxic.
The Star