A 6-year-old girl, Sinakhokonke Madiya has died after she was raped and strangled at Ezingolweni, on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast of South Africa.
It is alleged the grade one learner had been playing at a neighbour’s house, when she was brought home unconscious. The neighbours claimed she had swallowed a safety pin.
“They told us that she had swallowed a safety pin. So we tried to give her water, but her tongue had already turned green. We rushed her to the clinic. The nurses assisted us urgently. They then told us that it seems the child had been raped. They even showed us the strangling marks on her throat. They told us that the child is dead,” the child’s aunt Phumulile Gasa says.
“I had hope that they would be able to remove this pin. But when they (the mother’s family) got there, they were told my child didn’t swallow any pin, she had been raped and strangled,” Sinakhokonke’s distraught mother Silindile Madiya told SABC News while relating the shocking news she had received.
Madiya says all she wants is justice. She believes her neighbours are protecting the perpetrator.
“I just want justice to prevail. I want all of them to be arrested because they are not telling the truth that my child swallowed a pin. When my family rushed her to the clinic, I had hope that she would survive. I couldn’t get updates because my cellphone was off due to load shedding. I had hope that they would be able remove this pin. But when they got there they were told my child didn’t swallow any pin, she had been raped and strangled.”
KwaZulu-Natal Police Spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker says an inquest docket has been opened to investigate Sinakhokonke’s death.
“Following an inspection by the clinic, it was discovered that the child had passed away. A postmortem is being conducted to determine the cause of death; police are investigating a case of inquest.”
Mother of Nations Women and Children’s Rights Group says this incident is not the first in the Ezingolweni area.
The organisation’s founder Mathabiso Cele says there have been at least 30 cases of rape and murder since 2018.
“The number of police officers serving under Ezingolweni is not enough. We have a crisis. We do need support in regard to more members joining the police force at Ezingolweni in order to balance and assist with the handling of cases. Sometimes you get in other places evidence is not collected due to the number of members not being sufficient.”
Six-year-old Sinakhokonke will be buried on Saturday.
