As Wednesday morning dawned on rural Mqhekezweni in the notorious Bhityi area outside Mthatha, the full terror that had been inflicted on its residents was revealed, with two elderly women found dead in their homes and five school pupils raped.
Nkosikazi Nogcinile Mtirara — the great-granddaughter-in law of the late AbaThembu kingdom regent Jongintaba Mtirara, who raised Madiba as his guardian — was gunned down at her royal home at Mqhekezweni Great Place in the Bhityi administrative area outside Mthatha on Tuesday.
Mtirara’s niece, Princess Phathiswa Mtirara, said the assailants broke into the house at about 10pm.
“Two men wearing balaclavas forced open the sliding door and pointed guns at the children while looking for one of her sons.
“Hearing the commotion and screams of the children, she woke up and went to investigate. The men shot her in the head and the neck before fleeing,” Phathiswa said.
Also some time during that night, 80-year-old retired nurse Nonceba Timakwe, the sister of Methodist Church of Southern Africa retired Clarkebury district head bishop Sizwe Nyembenye, was killed.
She was stabbed to death and her body found in a pool of blood on Wednesday morning at her home about 2km from Mtirara’s homestead.
That same night, five grade 12 pupils were raped by two men at their rented boarding house in Konkqeni village, about 4km away.
President Cyril Ramaphosa offered his condolences to “Nkosikazi Mtirara’s AmaDlomo royal clan and the AbaThembu Kingdom more broadly”.
“This merciless attack on an elderly woman who is a leader in our society and a builder of communities, fills us with grief; but it also fuels our resolve to stop violent crime and bring justice to those who live outside the law and have no respect for the dignity and lives of fellow citizens,” Ramaphosa said.
“Every day in our country, our courts are dealing with perpetrators who thought they could get away with terrorising individuals or communities.
“The attack on Mqhekezweni Great Place will end equally disastrously for these perpetrators.”
He said he was equally saddened by the gender-based violence that targeted pupils in a critical phase of their young lives.
Mtirara was known for being vocal against crime. Her death comes just weeks after an elderly man was burned to death and an elderly woman stabbed to death.
A suspect in those incidents was allegedly killed by an angry mob, another was admitted to hospital.
Imbumba Yamakhosikazi Akomkhulu president Queen MaDosini Tina Ndamase said the crime levels in Mqhekezweni had been raised many times.
“Since 2019, we have been asking the government to provide 24-hour protection for the great place and the royal palace,” Ndamase said.
“We were there because of the many murder cases and rape cases of women in Mqhekezweni.
“They promised to safeguard the Mqhekezweni Great Place and its surroundings.”
Contralesa provincial chair and MP Nkosi Mwelo Nkonkonyana said: “The government must review and overhaul the laws governing criminal justice by removing the rights given to criminals.
“Criminals are taking away the rights of all peace-loving South Africans.”
Eastern Cape House of Traditional and Khoi-San leaders chair Nkosi Mpumalanga Gwadiso strongly condemned the attacks
“Nkosikazi Mtirara was at the centre of fighting crime and lawlessness in her area of jurisdiction.
“What is more painful is to hear that in the same evening of her assassination there was the rape of five young girls and the murder of another 80-year-old resident,” Gwadiso said.
Community safety MEC Xolile Nqatha and provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene, who visited Mqhekezweni, said police were working around the clock to apprehend those behind the heinous attacks in Bhityi.
“A case of two murders has been registered. Five learners were raped and robbed at gunpoint,” Mene said.
“The investigation teams will leave no stone unturned to ensure that these perpetrators are brought to justice. A person of interest was held for the rape case.
“These three crimes happened not far from one another and we are looking for that person who can be linked to any of them, if not all.”
Nqatha said Timakwe was tortured and burned with hot plastic and stabbed.
Mtirara royal family spokesperson Nkosi Mfundo Bhovulengwe Mtirara said Nogcinile Mtirara and Timakwe did not deserve to die such violent deaths.
“Their killings and the rapes show how brazen criminals in Mqhekezweni and Bhityi are. They are a law unto themselves and fear nobody.
“We have been crying to national and provincial governments that they must prioritise Bhityi and our cries have [fallen] on deaf ears.
“Who should die before things are taken seriously, a traditional leader, a priest, who should be raped that this area be taken seriously, whose livestock should be stolen before this is proved to be serious?
“Who should be extorted before every authority understood that this area is under siege from brazen thugs?
“Nogcinile and Timakwe would not have been killed if the police had taken us seriously.
“This is not the first time that the royal place of Mqhekezweni has been attacked, though it is the first time that someone has been murdered. Police are failing us,” Mtirara said.
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