The portfolio head of Community Development has called on law enforcement authorities to mete out harsher punishments against people found guilty of murdering women and children.
Cllr Margaret Arnolds, a self-professed survivor of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) reflected on the killing and mutilation of two minors in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg last week.
The bodies of 6-year-old Simphiwe Mncina and 8-year-old Mpho Makondo were discovered by community members at the weekend after they went missing on Friday, 18 September.
Mncina’s grandmother, Dudu Mojafe told SABC News the family is struggling to come to terms with his death.
“As the family, we are hurting. We wish the perpetrators can be caught. We also hope the community can help the police and send those responsible for these murders to jail because we were expecting a lot from them.”
MMC Arnolds visited the grieving families on Sunday, 20 September to relay the City’s condolences. She has pleaded with the community, which is baying for blood, to work with law enforcement authorities in bringing the perpetrators to book.
“I appeal to the Orange Farm community to refrain from mob justice and allow the law to take its course. The community should rather assist the South African Police Service to bring the killers to book by speaking up,” she says.
Cllr Arnolds adds that people arrested for killing children should not be granted bail.
“It cannot be business as usual as two children are killed in Orange Farm. It cannot be that we bury our children every week. No, it can't be. The perpetrators need to do time for their crime,” says the MMC.
There has been an increase in the killing of women and children in recent weeks, prompting a nationwide protest against the scourge, which has left many communities living in fear.
