LIMPOPO – A 24-year-old woman who stabbed to death her boyfriend (36) this past weekend has appeared in the Lulekani Magistrate’s Court today .
According to Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, the spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in Limpopo, the woman faces a charge of murder and her case was postponed to August 13 for formal bail application.
Themba Xigama Chabalala was fatally stabbed on Saturday (August 7) in Majeje village Lulekani, outside Phalaborwa.
According to police reports the suspect had stabbed her boyfriend with a beer bottle, after she found him in the company of another woman.
“It is alleged that the suspect had heard that her boyfriend was with another woman near a liquor outlet in the area, and had rushed to area to find him with an unknown woman. An argument ensued and it is reported that the suspect grabbed a beer bottle and stabbed her boyfriend,” the spokesperson for the police, Brig Motlafela Mojapelo explained.
Chabalala was certified dead by paramedics who attended to the scene. The woman was arrested later that day after she handed herself over to the police at Namakgale.
The provincial police commissioner, Lt Genl Thembi Hadebe has strongly condemned this incident and urged the public not to resort to unlawful means when dealing with relationship challenges.
She further urged the community to not take matters into their own hands and to allow the police time and space to handle the case unhindered.
The Limpopo MEC for Social Development Nkakareng Rakgoale also condemned the incident and said that justice will prevail.
“It is very disturbing to still learn about incidents such as this during the month of August, where we are supposed to be commemorating and celebrating women. Gender-based violence is not exclusively perpetrated against women. In fact women of today must emulate the women of 1956 and resolve disputes in a more peaceful manner.”
Rakgoale urged people who are experiencing problems in their relationships, to not resort to violence but to instead seek professional help from our social workers.
A team of social workers have been deployed to the area to provide psycho-social support to the affected families.