A woman who worked for the Department of Community Safety, checking if police stations are sensitive to gender-base violence victims, became a victim of gender-based violence herself when she was set alight, allegedly by her boyfriend.
"We did not expect something like this to happen to her, she fought so hard against gender-based violence, for her to die this way. You burn something that is no longer valuable to you, to us she was valuable. The guy could have let her go if she had no value to him, not just set her alight like she was an item,” said Mncedisi.The boyfriend's aunt, who witnessed the incident, said Mpontsana used to visit them, and would sometimes sleep at their place.
Police spokesperson Andrè Traut said the circumstances surrounding Mpontsana's death were under investigation. Traut said the suspect had fled and had yet to be arrested."What makes her passing especially tragic is that her work entailed inspecting SAPS stations for their compliance to assist victims of domestic and gender-based violence. It is incredibly upsetting. But we have to go on. We cannot surrender in the face of this scourge.
He said that over the years, Mpontsana had become one of the most experienced staff members in monitoring the police on compliance in terms of the Domestic Violence Act. Head of Department, Yashina Pillay, said it was with great sadness that they as a department were working through the news of Mpontsana’s death.
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