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KZN MEC to picket outside court when albino’s alleged killers appear

KwaZulu-Natal social development MEC Weziwe Thusi will on Tuesday add her voice to the outrage over the killing of a woman with albinism.

She will join a picket outside the Emanguzi Magistrate’s Court where four suspects are due to appear in connection with the murder of Thandazile Mpunzi‚ whose dismembered body was found in a shallow grave following the arrest of three youths.

A local traditional healer was arrested shortly after the gruesome discovery.

They appeared in court last week on charges of abducting‚ killing and chopping up the 20-year-old woman’s body‚ and the case was postponed to Tuesday.

Mpunzi had been reported missing by her family earlier this month.

The Commission for Gender Equality last week expressed its anger‚ saying: “It is despicable that at this day and age there people that believe that killing people with albinism will bring them luck or help strengthen their medicine.

“The mutilated body of Thandazile which was discovered on the shallow grave points to gruesome and painful death suffered at the hands of her attackers.

“It is unfortunate that the incident happens in the year in which the first Commemoration of World Albinism Day after the United Nations having declared 13 June as the day to dispel the myths and stigma faced by people with albinism around the world‚” it added.

“The commission calls upon citizenry within South Africa to respect the rights of people with Albinism as their rights are also enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. As the commission‚ we call upon the justice system to ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous crime against Thandazile receive the punishment that would serve as a deterrent to others.

“We cannot as people to allow the vulnerable people of our society in this case albinos to suffer human rights violations and social exclusion due to the harmful beliefs associated with albinism.”