/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

The Police Ministry is encouraged by the numerous life sentences handed down in the past three weeks for crimes committed against women and children.

Most recently is the two life sentences handed down to Lungile Nxelelwa for the rape and brutal murder of his girlfriend Keneilwe Pule.

Nxelelwa was convicted by the Palm Ridge Magistrates court for brutally raping and killing Pule before setting her body alight.

In the Eastern Cape, the hefty jail term handed down by the Grahamstown High Court to Siyabulela Satyo Mnkayo has also been welcomed.

For his 2 year reign of terror on unsuspecting women at Alexandria from 2012, Mnkayo pleaded guilty to 15 counts of rape and robbery with aggravated circumstances.

Police positively linked the accused to the crimes by DNA evidence and was also later connected to other cold rape cases.

He was sentenced to four life terms and 125 years imprisonment on Monday, 08 February 2021.

In the first week of February, a Pretoria couple was also sentenced to two double life sentences for the rape and abuse of their two minor children, a five-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy in 2014.

Police investigations found that the parents performed gory sexual acts on the children, forced the children to commit sexual acts on the parents and each other.

The couple, a 39-year-old man and 33-year-old woman, was found guilty of rape, compelled rape, sexual assault, sexual grooming, flashing, child neglect and possession of drugs.

In Mpumalanga, a double life sentence was handed to Sibusiso Charles Kabini on the 30th of January by the KwaMhlanga Regional Court.

According to details revealed in court, the 26 year old waited for his victims behind a local shopping mall at Kwamhlanga and at knifepoint, he would rape and rob them of their personal belongings. In one incident, he raped a woman in front of her 5 year old child, whilst on their way to a local clinic.

On the 25th of January, a child rapist was also handed a life sentence in the Free State, for the rape of a five year old girl in Chakaville, Petrusburg.

While on her way home from a local tuck shop, the little girl was lured by the perpetrator to his house and raped her.

40 year old Thabiso Mzoboshe was traced and arrested by the police when the victim shared her ordeal with the mother when she got home.

Police Minister, General Bheki Cele has commended the police investigators who put together solid cases that led to the hefty sentences.

“The decision by the courts to hand down life sentences to these criminals is a clear message that the whole value chain of the judicial system is tackling gender-based violence with the seriousness it deserves. These sentences should encourage us as police to continue to put away those individuals that don’t belong in our society and at the same time serve as a lesson that the Judiciary does not take crimes against women and children lightly.” - Cele concluded.

Issued by South African Police Service