Pretoria - Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has called on law enforcement agencies to review their programmes of dealing with gender-based violence (GBV) and what he also described as lawlessness.
Lesufi was speaking on Thursday after visiting families of two slain teachers who taught at Lekgalong Primary School in Ga-Rankuwa, north of Pretoria.
Brenda Kgatitsoe, 27, and Vuyile Mkhize, 26, were shot dead allegedly by a boyfriend of one of them. He also shot himself dead in the room located in Ga-Rankuwa zone 1.
Lesufi said the battle against lawlessness is getting out of control and there's an urgent need to stop it.
“There are so many things that are happening that make you ask yourself, do we still have the law?
“I am calling for a new strategy to deal with gender-based violence and to deal with lawlessness across our society.
“I am of a strong view that there's a strategic need to review our plans, our approaches and the manner in which we are protecting the society,” Lesufi said.
The women started working at the school in February 2021 after graduating from the Tshwane University of Technology and were made permanent in June that year.
They are said to have been close friends and had moved in together.
A colleague told Pretoria News that problems arose when a man started coming to the school, harassing and stalking one of them.
The victim allegedly informed her colleagues that the man and some of her family relatives wanted to force her into an arranged marriage, which she did not consent to.
Mandla Kgatitsoe, Brenda’s brother, said they were really robbed as a family because they were expecting much from his sister.
“I saw her graduating, getting employed, starting with contracts from different schools and getting her first permanent job, buying her first car. We really expected much from her,” he said.
The Mkhize family were unavailable for comment.
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