Nosicele Mtebeni, a law student at Fort Hare, was killed - allegedly by her boyfriend who is said to have dismembered her body too.
Johannesburg - The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) says it would reach out to the leadership of the University of Fort Hare following the gruesome murder of Nosicele Mtebeni whose body parts were found in a bag last week.
The CGE said it was saddened by “this senseless killing” and yet another addition to the list of gender-based violence murders that took place during this year’s Women’s Month.
Mtebeni, a law student at Fort Hare, was killed allegedly by her boyfriend, who is said to have dismembered her body too.
The 25-year-old man allegedly confessed that he killed her because she was “cheating on him”.
Parts of Mtebeni’s body was stuffed in a suitcase that was discovered about 100m from her house, after police were alerted by a passerby.
The 23-year-old’s head and hands were dismembered and left inside the house in plastic bags, while the suitcase was dumped on the pavement.
The suspect appeared in court on Monday but abandoned his bail application.
CGE chairperson Tamara Mathebula, said Mtebeni’s gruesome murder had marred the spirit of women’s month, and that the continued killings of women was an act of confrontation against the law by GBV perpetrators.
The Commission has, in the past three years, been conducting legal hearings to assess gender transformation and gender-based violence at institutions of higher learning.
It said among other things, the hearings sought to ascertain vulnerabilities and gender based violence risks experienced by women in those institutions.
“More than 15 vice chancellors appeared before the commission to help the commission understand gender related problems at their institutions.
“One of the numerous recommendations we made, was for the Department of Higher Education and Training to institute policies and procedures to deal with the scourge of gender-based violence at institutions of higher learning.
“We urge the Higher Education Ministry to speedily ensure the implementation of the recommendations we have made in this area by various institutions,” she said.
Mathebula has also urged institutions of higher learning and members of civil society to engage students on programmes that seek to fight GBV.
IOL
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