A Soshanguve family is devastated after their daughter Palesa Malatji, a Grade 12 learner at Ntsako Secondary School was found raped and murdered last week Thursday.
The Gauteng Department of Education said the 17-year-old left school after attending extra classes and her lifeless body was found on Friday last week next to Echibini Secondary School in Soshanguve.
“This matter is still fresh and when I talk about it, I become emotional because Palesa had a bright future ahead of her. We were like friends. We would talk and when it comes to education she was doing well,” said the family spokesperson, Thabiso Malatji.
“So we don’t know what happened and who could have done something like this. We are surprised because where we found her is not the same route she would use to come home. Maybe someone tracked her, took her there and raped her. I don’t know,” he said.
“But as a family we are devastated. We have lost somebody who was going to take us out of poverty. Her dream was to become a Pharmacist or doctor depending on her matric results. So this kind of death is heartbreaking. I used to see these kinds of deaths on the media and social media. When it happens to your family it is very heartbreaking,” he added.
Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane said community members should help protect learners from such gruesome attacks.
“We are extremely concerned. It really shows that we need to do much more as a society to ensure that we protect our children and protect our learners. What happened shows that the perpetrators are heartless, they don’t deserve to be in a society with us, they don’t care about anybody and they are embolden to a larger extent,” said Chiloane.
Chiloane called for a speedy investigation.
“So we are speaking to the family together with law enforcement. To the Police, this case must be cracked very quickly. We have decided to provide more support from the level of the province and escalate it as a high priority case to ensure that we put this matter to rest and get those who are behind it to pay for what they have done to the learner.
“Palesa is not just a statistic to us. She is not just a number. She was the future of this country. She was doing maths and science. She was a high performing learner so with that we know perhaps she could have been a doctor or a scientist. It is a big, big loss. We are taken back by this loss,” said Chiloane.
Palesa was attacked just days before the beginning of South Africa’s annual National Child Protection Week began. This year’s theme being, “It is in our hands to break the cycle of child neglect, abuse, violence, and exploitation.”
According to police, a murder investigation has been launched, but no arrests have been made.
