Jan Mabuyakhulu has been walking for four years‚ crisscrossing the country and covering a distance of more than 4‚000km. And all this to raise awareness about rape‚ violence and abuse against women and children.
The 45-year-old community activist‚ popularly known as “The Walker”‚ hails from Mtubatuba in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
He started his campaign against women and child abuse in 2013 after two teenage girls were raped and killed in Jozini.
He shot to fame by walking 1‚900km from Johannesburg to Cape Town in three and a half months in protest against the incident.
At the time‚ he said he could not bear the pain of seeing the teenagers’ mother‚ who he went to church with‚ often collapsing during the service.
Since then‚ Mabuyakhulu has walked 487km from Richards Bay to Johannesburg‚ 560km from Mtubatuba to Johannesburg‚ covered the 224km from Mtubatuba to Durban three times and a trek from Port Shepstone to Lesotho.
Now Mabuyakhulu is embarking on a new walk‚ this time against the killing of people with albinism for muti‚ which is rife in the Umkhanyakude district he comes from.
On Wednesday he will walk 180km from Mbazwana to Manguzi on the border between South Africa and Mozambique.
“I am very concerned about the increasing number of killings of people with albinism here in Umkhanyakude and I thought that if I can raise awareness as I have been doing against women and child abuse‚ maybe people will listen and stop this despicable thing‚” he said.
During the last leg of his one-week journey‚ “The Walker” will be joined by KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo‚ who has previously done the same during some of his other missions.
His latest campaign comes in the wake of a recent conviction of traditional healer Bhekukufa Gumede‚ 67‚ for masterminding the gruesome murder of a woman with albinism‚ whose genitals‚ arm and other body parts were mutilated for muti.
Last month‚ Gumede‚ a leader of the Zion Congregation Church with 15 branches across South Africa‚ was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Mtubatuba High Court for the murder of 20-year-old Thandazile Mpunzi in August 2015. Three men hired to kill Mpunzi had already been convicted for the murder.
Last week‚ a United Nations independent expert called for additional oversight of traditional healers who use body parts in witchcraft and so-called medicines for muti.
According to the UN‚ at least 600 attacks of people with albinism have been reported in 27 countries.
Jan 'The Walker' Mabuyakhuku makes strides in the fight against albino killings
Jan Mabuyakhulu has been walking for four years‚ crisscrossing the country and covering a distance of more than 4‚000km. And all this to raise awareness about rape‚ violence and abuse against women and children.
The 45-year-old community activist‚ popularly known as “The Walker”‚ hails from Mtubatuba in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
He started his campaign against women and child abuse in 2013 after two teenage girls were raped and killed in Jozini.
He shot to fame by walking 1‚900km from Johannesburg to Cape Town in three and a half months in protest against the incident.
At the time‚ he said he could not bear the pain of seeing the teenagers’ mother‚ who he went to church with‚ often collapsing during the service.
Since then‚ Mabuyakhulu has walked 487km from Richards Bay to Johannesburg‚ 560km from Mtubatuba to Johannesburg‚ covered the 224km from Mtubatuba to Durban three times and a trek from Port Shepstone to Lesotho.
Now Mabuyakhulu is embarking on a new walk‚ this time against the killing of people with albinism for muti‚ which is rife in the Umkhanyakude district he comes from.
On Wednesday he will walk 180km from Mbazwana to Manguzi on the border between South Africa and Mozambique.
“I am very concerned about the increasing number of killings of people with albinism here in Umkhanyakude and I thought that if I can raise awareness as I have been doing against women and child abuse‚ maybe people will listen and stop this despicable thing‚” he said.
During the last leg of his one-week journey‚ “The Walker” will be joined by KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo‚ who has previously done the same during some of his other missions.
His latest campaign comes in the wake of a recent conviction of traditional healer Bhekukufa Gumede‚ 67‚ for masterminding the gruesome murder of a woman with albinism‚ whose genitals‚ arm and other body parts were mutilated for muti.
Last month‚ Gumede‚ a leader of the Zion Congregation Church with 15 branches across South Africa‚ was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Mtubatuba High Court for the murder of 20-year-old Thandazile Mpunzi in August 2015. Three men hired to kill Mpunzi had already been convicted for the murder.
Last week‚ a United Nations independent expert called for additional oversight of traditional healers who use body parts in witchcraft and so-called medicines for muti.
According to the UN‚ at least 600 attacks of people with albinism have been reported in 27 countries.
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