Defiled, killed, burned: This crime has turned stomachs in SA ‘rape hot-spot’

This is a sickener from start to finish. A middle-aged woman based in Dube’s Village, Inanda never returned home after leaving for drinks with friends last weekend – after she was brutally slain by a merciless murderer. The grisly details have sparked a massive political backlash, too.

‘Disgraceful and repugnant’: Dumazihlebi Sithole case shocks KZN

More details have been shared by officials in Inanda, and they make for a stomach-churning read. Several intolerable acts of barbarity were committed against this victim…

• The 53-year-old woman was the victim of a vicious sexual assault before her death.
• After Dumazihlebi Doris Sithole was raped, she was killed in what police have described as a ‘cruel and unusual’ manner.
• In another shocking act, the perpetrator set Sithole’s dead body of fire, torching her remains.
• The disgusting deed was concluded when the corpse was dumped in a public toilet.
• One provincial MEC has already labelled the crime as repugnant, and SAPS are under pressure to locate this sadistic murderer.

Inanda rape, murder case sparks political war of words

Inanda itself has an extremely poor reputation for incidences of GBV and femicide. Last year, it recorded SA’s highest number of reported rape cases per annum. It remains as a national ‘hot-spot’ for these crimes, with sexual assaults, murders, and kidnappings also rife in the region.

Shehana Kajee is the DA Women’s Network Chairperson in KZN. She has reacted with visceral horror to the Dumazihlebi Sithole case, and has since lashed out at the province’s Police Commissioner for ‘failing to concern himself’ with the high levels of violence facing women and children.

According to the politician, more needs to be done to allow women their ‘basic rights to freedom without fear’:

“The splurge of inhumane violence against women and children and the high rate of femicide in KZN is exacerbated by the lack of concern and the lack of will power by the Provincial Police Commissioner, Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, to address these crimes.”

“Inanda is notorious for being the rape capital of KZN after Umlazi. It doesn’t need a rocket scientist to understand where the focus should be in the fight for the freedom of movement for women without fear of them losing their lives.”

Shehana Kajee