Families search for missing Gauteng women

Nthabiseng Selepe was last seen at her work, a Dis-Chem store in Randrige Mall, on Sunday. She left at 15:00, wearing her Dis-Chem uniform, but did not arrive at home.

It was thought she had gone to visit her boyfriend, but he has not seen her, says Selepe’s cousin, Ontlanetse Oageng.

Thandolwethu Ngolo, was last seen by her father Zwelinzima Mbovane, when he dropped her off at Fourways taxi rank in Johannesburg on July 2, The Daily Dispatch reported. She was travelling to visit her aunt in Tembisa, and went missing on July 12.

These latest reported kidnappings come as the nation mobilises against violent crimes against women, with three days of protests taking place in the Cape Town CBD.

The large gatherings saw protesters making their way to the Cape Town International Convention Centre after initially gathering at Parliament. Many protestors had expressed the intention to disrupt the World Economic Forum to bring attention to the plight of women and children in South Africa.

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed protesters in front of Parliament on Thursday. In a later video, he said sexual offence cases which had been closed or not properly investigated in the past would be reviewed. He also promised harsher sentences for those who commit violence against women.

In response to the recent cases of gender-based violence, Cabinet has called for the maximum sentence to be handed to perpetrators and the national Register of Sexual Offences to be extended to include offenders who have committed any sexual offence, not only those who have sentenced for violating a minor or an individual who is mentally disabled.

Cabinet expressed its condolences with the families and friends of Uyinene Mrwetyana, Leighandre Jegels, Jesse Hess, Nolunde Vumsindo, Angelique Clark-Abrahams, Meghan Cremer, Ayakha Jiyane and her three siblings, and all women and children who had been brutally murdered by men.

Mrwetyana, a UCT student, was raped and murdered at a Cape Town post office last month, while Jegels was shot and killed by her estranged police officer boyfriend. He later died in hospital after sustaining injuries in a crash while trying to evade police following the shooting.

Hess and her grandfather were found dead in their Parow flat last week. No one has yet been arrested in connection with the death.

Mrwetyana and Hess were laid to rest in East London and Cape Town, respectively, on Saturday.

As the country was reeling from the murders of Mrwetyana, Jegels and Hess, news broke of the killings of Jiyane and her three younger siblings in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday.

Sibusiso Mpungose, the three children’s father and Jiyane’s stepfather, was arrested for the murders on Wednesday and appeared in court on Friday.

Clark-Abrahams was attacked in her East London home by a man allegedly known to her, DispatchLive reported.

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