As the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign draws to a close on Sunday, activists say the fight to curb the scourge is far from over. Despite the countrywide awareness campaign, women and children have still been raped and murdered during this period. “It’s a tragedy that at the very same area the programme was launched, women were raped,” Reverend Xolamzi Sam, who is the leader of the Eastern Cape Men’s Movement, told the Dispatch.
Scores of men and women who waved placards and sang protest songs for hours outside the East London magistrate’s court on Monday were disappointed when they learnt a man arrested for allegedly gunning down Zoleka Putye had been released on Sunday night.
Sighs of relief and fist pumping were on full display from the gallery in the Makhanda high court on Wednesday as Lunga Nqayi was sentenced to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder of Eastern Cape businesswoman Nokwanda Patocka. Nqayi, 47, a former bakery driver, who was convicted of the murder on Tuesday by judge Tembekile Malusi, was further sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, to run concurrently.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs you did not love my sister. That Bible verse talks about love and you did not love her.” This is what the sister of slain Eastern Cape businesswoman Nokwanda Maguga-Patocka told Nokwanda’s killer, after reading 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 4.