Pretoria – Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina has sent condolences to the family of Eskom employee Thembisile Yende.
Yende’s body was discovered at the utility’s Springs substation after having been reportedly missing for two weeks.
“We are losing mothers daily, breadwinners and children, who represent the future of South Africa,” said Mayor Masina said on Thursday.
He said the City of Ekurhuleni stands with millions of South Africans, who are saying “Enough is enough!”
The Executive Mayor has also called upon men in society to stand up against brutality and protect the “flowers of the nation and young leaders of the future”.
“… Women are still subjected to the worst atrocities in society…” said the Mayor.
He urged law enforcement agents to solve the case and bring the perpetrators to book.
Meanwhile, the body parts of a two-month old baby were recently discovered in a hostel in Tokoza in Ekurhuleni. The city on Thursday said this is evidence of a gruesome murder, which is still under South African Police Service (SAPS) investigation.
The horrific find comes as South Africa campaigns for the safety of children during Child Protection Week.
“We can’t as a nation normalise this barbaric and evidently perverse situation. As we commemorate International Children’s Day, it’s important we highlight the struggles children, especially in poor communities, face.
“There are thousands of children who become prey to vultures due to socio-economic circumstances and unsafe environments they live in,” the city said.
The City of Ekurhuleni welcomed Police Minister Fikile Mbalula’s pronouncement that such killings are a priority crime. However, the city said remains imperative that the judiciary brings perpetrators to book and severely punishes such atrocious crimes.
NUMSA
We call on Eskom and the South African Police Services to leave no stone unturned in establishing the circumstances surrounding her death. We hope the investigation will shed light on whether Eskom was indeed negligent in the manner in which the death of our member was handled. Secondly, adding to our dismay as a union is that a previous ‘investigation’ by Eskom yielded nothing and it would seem the employer got relaxed because he saw her vehicle in the car park.
Even now our members are disturbed to see messages broadcast by Eskom internally of her passing, when there were no messages broadcast about her disappearance. We also want answers on why the surveillance cameras were not operating at the time of her untimely death.
NUMSA wishes to extend its heartfelt condolences to Yende’s family. She leaves behind her 6 year old son and an extended family in Pieterboth near Springs. We are extremely saddened that our member may be another casualty in the war against women and children which seems to be gripping this country.
