He acted as if he was killing a chicken or a goat

Even though the killer of Portia Raselabe is in jail, the family still feel that justice is not fully served. They feel that more should be done to stop the killing of women in the country.

On Saturday, members of the Raselabe family gathered at Dzanani in Nzhelele. The event was meant to pay tribute to and thank everyone who assisted the family during the tough period after the death of the 35-year-old Portia. She was killed by her boyfriend, Godfrey Radzilani, in April 2017.

In August this year, Radzilani was given a life sentence by the Thohoyandou Local Division of the Limpopo High Court. The court found him guilty of stabbing the young woman before smashing in her head.

“During his trial he was acting as if he had killed a chicken or a goat, not a person,” said a spokesperson for the family, Mr Peter Raselabe. “His behaviour added more pain to us, and we want him to rot in jail, because people like him don’t deserve to be in our community,” he said.

Raselabe said that the family expected the judge to punish the murderer with at least three life sentences. The family members are, however, very thankful for the support they had received. “Usually when days are dark friends are few, but in this case it was different. The community members of Dzanani and surrounding areas showed us a lot of support from the very first to the last day of sentencing,” he said. “With this small gathering we just want to say thank you to the community for their support,” he added.

Raselabe also called on the president of the country, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, to take action against the brutal killings of women in this country.

“When you hear or read that another woman has been brutally killed, it brings back the pain and memories that we felt when our beloved sister Portia was killed. It is like rubbing a wound that is about to heal, and what is more painful is that these brutal killings of innocent women is increasing every day,” he said.

News - Date: 14 September 2019

Maanda Bele

Maanda  Bele, born and raised in Nzhelele Siloam, studied journalism at the Tshwane University of Technology.

He is passionate about current news and international affairs.

He worked as part of the Zoutnet team as an intern in 2017.

He is currently a freelance journalist specialising in news from the Vhembe district.

Email: [email protected]