In an attack that has spread shock and
anger across South Africa, two young
girls aged just two and three were
kidnapped, raped and murdered in the
town of Diepsloot, Johannesburg.
Cousins Yonelisa and Zandile Mali were
snatched from their doorstep in broad
daylight, only for their young,
mutilated bodies to be discovered days
later in a public toilet nearby, on October
15. According to Yonelisa's mum, Thokozani
Mali, Yonelisa is her only child. She said that
the girls were playing just outside the house
and she was checking on them every five
minutes. Only for them to go silent.
She alerted relatives, neighbours and
police, who combed the area – one of the
most violent places in South Africa - in a bid
to find them.
Talking to CNN, Yonelisa's mum said she
cannot bear to talk about her loss.
She said:
‘I am trying to be strong. When I am
sleeping, she always next to me, so when I
think of that I feel like crying.’
Five men have been arrested for the
kidnap, rape and murder of the girls and
briefly appeared at a Pretoria court on
Thursday. Their identities have yet to be
made public. Public protests followed the
discovery of
the bodies, with one person holding a
banner that read ‘hand these dogs over to us
and the people of Diepsloot’. The murder of
the girls, and torture of a young boy in
Katlehong, were condemned by South African
President Jacob Zuma last week.
He said:
‘These gruesome incidents of extreme torture
and murder of our children do not belong to
the society that we are continuously striving
to build together. Whilst we appeal to the
communities not to take the matters into
their hands, we also want to urge them to
work with law
enforcement authorities to find the
perpetrators and prosecute them to the fullest
extent of the law.’There are 55,000 reported
cases of sexual violence a year in South
Africa,according to the country's Medical
Research Council. But the organisation says
that the real figure is masked by the fact
that many
attacks go unreported.
Justice in Diepsloot is often meted out by
mobs - the nearest police station is 10miles
away.
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