I write this letter with a heavy heart and deep anger as a resident of Kokstad, a son of this soil, and Pan Africanist Congress mayoral candidate for Greater Kokstad.

In the last two months, our community has been shaken by reports of brutal murders of women and children in Greater Kokstad. Community members report that as many as six to seven women and children have been murdered and mutilated in this period. Each name is a sister, a mother, a child.

Even if it was one, one is too many. We cannot normalise this. When women cannot walk from Shayamoya to town without fear, when children cannot play in Bhongweni without mothers looking over their shoulders, then Greater Kokstad has failed. I have spoken to mothers at the Greater Kokstad clinic, at taxi ranks, at churches. The same fear: “Tolo, what is council doing?” My answer: “Not enough.” 

I demand that Kokstad SAPS, Harry Gwala district, GKM council, CPFs, traditional leaders, churches and women’s organisations sit within seven days, not next month, but now. Many of these attacks happen in dark areas, so I call upon GKM to fix streetlights in Horseshoe, Shayamoya and Bhongweni. The Usher Memorial Hospital and GKC must have 24-hour trauma counselling for survivors and families. Council must create a GBV war room with a hotline, not just a desk with a poster.

I call for the release of official crime stats for the last 60 days by the SAPS Station Commander so that we as a community know the truth. To the families who lost loved ones, I stand with you. Izwe Lethu means every life matters. We will not keep quiet while our sisters are killed.

Yours in Africa,

Shaun Siphathise Gayise

Kokstad resident