KwaMashu, South Africa, Missing Lesbian found Raped & Murdered
By Melanie Nathan, May 13, 2011
We have received a report from South Africa of yet another rape and murder of a lesbian. The new case comes out of KwaMashu, outside of Durban.
The badly bruised body of Nqobile Khumalo, who was reported missing by her parents on May 03, was found buried in a shallow grave. Police were led to the grave by her ex-boyfriend who confessed to her murder, after being interrogated by police. He allegedly confessed to killing her, apparently because he could not accept that she was in love with a woman and would not take him back.
The victim was beaten, raped and choked to death. LEXIT , a local group reported to ‘Mamba on Line’ that “her body was covered in bruises and her eyes had popped out of the sockets”.
The suspect is in police custody. Khumalo will be buried by her family on Thursday.
The murder is another in a seemingly endless epidemic of horrific attacks against lesbian women in South Africa, with at least five cases currently in the courts across the country.
To add to years of rape and murders, more recently the crime seems on the rise as last week, a 13-year-old teen was raped in Pretoria, while the week before 24 year old lesbian activist Noxola Nogwaza was raped and brutally murdered in Kwa-Thema township, outside of Johannesburg.
The south African government recently announced that a task team will be set up to look at the issue of hate crimes against LGBT people, in particular the ‘corrective rape’ of lesbians.
Deep Sympathy to the Family. South African LGBTI Activist Gareth Dallas, Cape Town Pride Organizer informed me from South Africa that activists are arranging protests around the Country.