Cele Mthwalume murders

Minister Bheki Cele. [Photo: GCIS]

Cele: SAPS ‘must do more’ after latest Mthwalume woman found dead

After the body of a sixth woman was found in Mthwalume, Cele said urgent changes are required in the administration of the area’s policing.

Cele Mthwalume murders

Minister Bheki Cele. [Photo: GCIS]

As Women’s Month draws to a close, Police Minister Bheki Cele has said that police need to do more to ensure that incidents of gender based violence (GBV) are curbed.

The latest discovery of a body, found “burnt beyond recognition” on the side of a road in Mthwalume, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Saturday 29 August is the sixth found in the area since the start of lockdown, leading police to believe that there is a potential serial killer in the area. 

Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Sunday that a link to the other bodies is yet to be established though, and said that he has yet again visited the angry community to address their concerns. 

Latest body ‘not yet linked’ to other Mthwalume killings

Speaking to eNCA, Cele said that the discovery of yet another dead woman in Mthwalume is of serious concern.

“We are also worried about the body that was found there. The investigations are continuing, although whether the body is linked to the other bodies is yet be understood, or whether it is just criminality that has led to yet another death,” he said. 

Speaking not quite with his signature black hat in his hands, although certainly with a degree of contrite concession that more needs to be done to protect South Africa’s women, Cele said that efforts need to be shared among societal stakeholders. 

“We agree with the call from the portfolio committee [on women, youth and persons with disabilities] and the [Inkatha Freedom Party] IFP, and women in general to say that we have to do more in terms of protecting women,” he said. 

“That call is also made to the whole of society to say ‘lets work together’, because it cannot just be the law enforcement agencies that work to stop this.”

He said that it is also the responsibility of “friends, families, and communities to help stop this”. 

Administrative issues to be addressed by Provincial Commissioner  

He said that policing in the area has been a point of major frustration to the Mthwalume community, and said that the Provincial Commissioner is busy trying to implement changes that will make the area safer. 

“The community has raised the issue of policing. The area where the body was found is 15 minutes away [from the nearest police station].

“The Secretariat and the Inspectorate have gone to that police station and the changes will be made very soon by the National Commissioner [Khombinkosi Jula], because we have discovered that there are problems in the administration of the station.”

Police previously arrested two suspects linked with the death of the previous five women, however one of these suspects was released due to a lack of evidence having been assembled, and the other committed suicide while in police custody