An Eastern Cape teacher who is alleged to have been killed by her boyfriend would be alive if the Maluti police had taken time to help her when she was crying for help, a close friend and a member of the family told the informer in an interview today. Mpharwana Makumane, a teacher from Azarial Senior Secondary School in Matatiele was stabbed to death by her boyfriend, Boitumello Khitleli near the school on Friday morning.
A close friend who spoke on anonymity said a day before the incident Makumane went to the Maluti Police station after Khitleli hysterically demanded that she must go to him. At the time Makumane was in a car with friends near Vcafe, an entertainment center in Matatiele. “He was banging the car, swearing at her, and pulling the car windows such that they nearly broke,” said a friend.
According to the friend, Makumane then decided to go to the Maluti Police station because their toxic relationship was already reported to an extent that previously she requested a protection order against him. “When she requested help she was told that there was nothing that could be done because he has not been served with a protection order. She even asked police to phone him so as to frighten him but she was told the phones are not working,” said the friend. There are allegations that she even asked to be allowed to sleep in the police station but was told that the police station is not a BnB. “Yes we got reports about the police attitude towards my sister and we believe that if her cry for help was positively responded to she would be alive by now,” said Makumane’s sister Diako. Diako confirmed that the couple’s relationship was no longer in a good state which is why her sister applied for a protection order against the boyfriend.
Station Commander of the Maluti Police Colonel Plaatjie said they are investigating these allegations. Khitleli appeared before the Maluti magistrate court on Monday for the first time and the case was adjourned to the 2nd of November for the bail application. He is facing charges of murder and attempted murder. The Eastern Cape MEC for Education Fundile Gade has sent words of condolences to the Makumane family. In a statement, Gade said the death of Makumane leaves a deeper wound to the department in the province as all teachers recommitted themselves to incident-free examinations and an 80% increase in the final examinations. “The manner in which Ms. Makumane has died indicates the level of cruelty that as men in the society we have turned out to be. The stabbing of this energetic educator is the glaring example of how far we have gone in becoming inhuman, brutally and family values have eroded in the society in general,” said Gade.
