INLSA
A man detained in connection with the rape and murder of Anene Booysen hides his head as he appears in the Bredasdorp Magistrates Court yesterday. Pictures: Jeffrey Abrahams
Xolani Koyana and Jason Felix
THE DA would call for a debate in Parliament to discuss the “rape crisis” in the country, the party’s parliamentary leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko, said yesterday.
Holding placards outside Parliament, DA leader Helen Zille, Mazibuko and Western Cape social development MEC Albert Fritz joined a group of about 15 supporters for a protest against rape.
The protest was a response to a number of cases in which girls and young women have been raped and killed, the most brutal being that of 17-year-old Anene Booysen, who was gang-raped and mutilated.
Anene was buried on Saturday and a memorial service for her turned political when ANC provincial leader Marius Fransman attacked the DA in his speech.
Zille said the party wished to work with the government and NGOs to find a solution to this crisis.
Elsabe Sheldon, centre, and Wilma Brooks, left, aunts of Anene Booysen, listen to court proceedings.
INLSA
“Anyone who wants to turn this into a party political battle is being disrespectful to the millions of rape survivors in South Africa, and particularly those who have lost their lives to this scourge,” Zille said.
Mazibuko said she would approach the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, and his deputy, Nomaindia Mfeketo, about having public hearings in Parliament to discuss “the crisis”. This would give members of the public, survivors of sexual crimes and rehabilitated offenders an opportunity to voice their feelings on the subject.
Mazibuko suggested that specialists who dealt with sexual crimes be called to advise on what could be done. She said the SAPS family violence, child protection and sexual offences units did not have the capacity to deal with the crimes. This resulted in a low conviction of rapists.
“We need to put in place a criminal justice system that will punish perpetrators of sexual crimes. We can’t live in a country in which people do things and get away with them. That is unacceptable.”
She said it was too late for Anene, but other women who could find themselves in similar situations must not be failed by the system.
l On Saturday the decomposed body of 19-year-old Ge-Audrey Green was found in the drawer of a bed in the flat of a neighbour in Scottsville, Kraaifontein. A 21-year-old will appear in the Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court.
Meanwhile,
one of the three suspects in the investigation of murder and brutal rape of Anene has been released for lack of evidence linking him to the incident.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said yesterday that the 21-year-old suspect had been taken in for questioning at the local police station in Bredasdorp on Friday but had been released on Saturday.
The two remaining men are expected to appear in the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court today.
One of the men appeared yesterday, but the matter was postponed so that the two could appear in court together today.
Magistrate Graham Cupido ruled yesterday that the man was not to be named or identified in the media.
Ntabazalila said the State would argue for no bail for both suspects.
The case was likely to be moved to the Cape Town High Court, he said.
