CAPE TOWN, May 3 (Xinhua) -- South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu on Thursday joined the chorus of condemnation against the murder of a female student.
South Africans "are tired of such senseless killings and will not tolerate them," Silulu said.
She was referring to the murder of Zolile Khumalo by her boy friend.
Khumalo, a 21-year old student at the Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), was shot dead on campus in Durban in full view of her roommate on Tuesday night following what police described as a domestic quarrel.
The suspected killer, a 23-year-old man, who cannot yet be named, is set to make his first appearance in the Durban Regional Court on Friday on charges of murder.
Khumalo's death sent a wave of grief through the country.
"We must do more to protect women from being murdered by partners or former partners. We trust that the judicial system will take necessary steps and send a clear message to perpetrators that South Africans are tired of such senseless killings and will not tolerate them," said Sisulu, who is also the Chancellor of the MUT.
Khumalo's killing was the latest in a series of murders of women by their male partners in South Africa that has been gripped by high level gender-based violence.
In the most recent case, Karabo Mokoena, a 22-year-old girl, was murdered by her boyfriend Sandile Mantsoe. In trying to destroy evidence, Montsoe dumped and burned her body.
Those barbaric gruesome acts contributed in painting a negative picture of South Africa, the African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) said.
The ANCWL is unapologetic in calling for maximum jail sentences for those convicted for the barbaric gruesome killings of women and all forms of gender-based violence, ANCWL Secretary General Meokgo Matuba said.
"Society must unite and make sure that the gruesome killings of women and all forms of gender based violence comes to an end. Perpetrators must be locked in jails for women, children, gays and lesbians to enjoy their full human rights as citizens," said Matuba.
South Africa is among the countries that have the highest rate of violence against women and children. According to the South African Medical Research Council, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every eight hours in the country.