Police are searching for answers following the brutal murder of a woman in Xaxabantu informal settlement near Vrygrond.
The woman’s body was found in a passage between shacks, partially undressed and with blood on her face, in the early hours of Saturday morning, March 16.
The woman’s identity is known to Southern Mail.
Provincial police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said Muizenberg police are investigating a case of murder.
He said the woman was declared dead on the scene by paramedics and nobody has been arrested yet.
Community worker Mymoena Scholtz said women in Xaxabantu fear for their lives as this is the second shocking murder after Busiswe Ndabezimbi was shot and killed in August last year (“Motive a mystery in woman’s murder”, Southern Mail, August 23, 2023).
Ms Ndabezimbi was shot nine times while laying on her bed in her home.
“The community is shocked and we fear for the lives and safety of our women. The woman was raped (on Saturday) and murdered very brutally – there was a bottle put up her private parts. I don’t know what makes men do something so horrible to another person.”
She questioned why women have to live in a state of fear.
“As women we are not free, we have to look behind us all the time and it’s not a good way to live because there’s no protection for us.”
Muizenberg police spokesperson Captain Stephen Knapp said the office is waiting on forensic evidence.
Anyone with information about the incident can contact Muizenberg police’s detective unit.
On the same morning of Saturday March 16, Muizenberg police were called out to investigate two counts of murder following a shooting incident in Mountain Road in Overcome Heights.
At about 2.20am, two men aged 32 and 28 were shot and fatally wounded. Officers who attended to the crime scene found the victims with gunshot wounds to their bodies and both victims were declared dead on the scene by medical personnel.
Sergeant Twigg said the motive for the attack is believed to be gang related.
In another case logged by Steenberg police, officers were called out to a shooting incident in Kornet Street in Steenberg where a 19-year-old man was shot and fatally wounded.
Sergeant Twigg said upon arrival on the scene officers found the victim with multiple gunshot wounds to his body.
“The victim was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel and the motive for the attack is yet to be established and the suspect/s fled the scene and are yet to be arrested.”
Anyone with any information about any of the mentioned cases can contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
