By Anita Dangazele
She was allegedly beaten with a spade by a relative and her head was nearly severed. Her family, in the small town of Alexandria in the Eastern Cape, had to pick up the broken bits of the five-year-old girl’s skull.
The brutal murder of little Siphenathi Xhali took place in the early hours of last Saturday.
The little girl’s mother last saw her daughter on Friday afternoon when she asked to be taken to her father’s home. Phumeza Xhali (21) said she had no idea that she’d be bathing her daughter for the last time on that fateful day.
“I bathed her, fed her soft porridge, she loved it so much. In the afternoon she asked me to take her to father’s home, which I did,” said the visibly shaken mother.
The 21-year-old mother said she woke up to a heavy police presence next door and her seemingly drunk neighbour being led out of the house in handcuffs.
Xhali says at that point she decided to fetch her daughter at her paternal home. But when she got there she was told Siphenathi had left to go to play with other kids the previous day and had not returned.
The mother went to look for her at the friend’s house. That’s where she was told that her next door neighbour, who is also a relative, had picked Siphenathi up.
Remembering she’d seen her neighbour being led out by police, she panicked and frantically raced next door.
“I tried to force my way in, but a detective stopped me. When the detective told me that my daughter had been killed, I couldn’t breathe.
“I don’t understand because he [the suspect] loved my daughter, “ she sobbed.
Melumzi Jumba (54), Siphenathi’s paternal grandfather, said he received a call while at work on
Saturday and rushed to the scene. Once the police were done with the crime scene, he was called in.
“I saw the lifeless, battered body of my granddaughter with pieces of her skull scattered around the lounge. I had to pick up pieces of her skull. I will never forget it,” he said.
Following the barbaric murder, members of the Isikhalo Movement, as part of their 16 days of activism against gender-based violence action, visited the slain little girl’s home before marching to hand over a gender charter to the Makhanda police station on Thursday.
Isikhalo director Anelisa Bentele said: “We feel that it is not safe. We’re demanding that the law listens to us and that perpetrators of gender-based violence are locked away for longer periods. They cannot be roaming the streets.”
The gender charter was received by Makhanda Police Acting Commander Colonel Mbulelo Pika. “We note that protection of GBV victims is a priority and we will be escalating the charter to higher authorities and from there will come back with a solid response to Isikhalo’s demands.” he said.
Police say the suspect remains behind bars and is set to appear before the Kenton-on-Sea Magistrate’s Court on 26 January .
Pictured Above: About 100 women and girls marching under the banner of Isikhalo Movement to Makhanda Police station
Image source: Supplied
