A candle-lit vigil was held outside an abandoned building on Lilian Ngoyi Street on 30 May. The vigil was in light of the recent spate of rapes and murders of women in parts of Johannesburg, including the alleged gang rape of a 22-year-old pregnant woman by 11 men at the building on 16 May.
The vigil comes less than a month before the expected second appearance in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court of the 11 suspects implicated in this case.
Sizakele Nkosi, the Minister for Community Safety in Gauteng, headlined the event and called on the masses to stand firm in the fight against crime.
She said that the abandoned building harbours criminals and needs to be dealt with urgently.
“Criminals have decided to name it mnyama ndawo (a dark place), and so we’re here today to switch on the light and turn it into a place of light,” said Nkosi. “We’d also like to raise awareness around the plight of women that are raped, particularly the woman that was three months pregnant and raped by 11 men in the same building.”
Read: Community hold vigil in support of woman who was gang raped in abandoned building
She added that visits to various hijacked buildings in the inner city would be made in order to ‘reclaim the streets’ and mobilise solutions towards tackling the ills propagated by abandoned buildings. “All the buildings that are hotspots in the City of Johannesburg will be targeted. The issue will also be raised with the City’s planning and safety departments in order to enforce bylaws.
“Dangerous buildings should have their entrances and enclosures closed to ensure that no one, who will use it to rape, kill and rob people, will go in while the owner of the building is being looked for or being investigated.
“In order for an end to this scourge, young men need to be educated and sensitised so that they can lead the fight against the rape and abuse of women. People who rape and kill women are men who do it in the name of [other] men. We need strong men…real men to come forward and say not in our name.
“Just between 1 April and 21 May, 65 women were killed in Gauteng. It’s a serious thing that is not different from Aids…we really need to try and deal with this issue once and for all.”
