Blood on Our Hands: The Lusikisiki Tragedy and the Crisis of Male Violence in South Africa’s South.

By George Omagbemi Sylvester | published by SaharaWeeklyNG.com

A dark and agonizing cloud has once again descended upon Lusikisiki, a quiet rural town in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This time, it is not crime as usual, nor one of the countless political betrayals that plague our people, but something far worse. A man is on the run after allegedly SHOOTING and KILLING his PREGNANT GIRLFRIEND and WIFE in cold blood. Yes, you read that right. A woman carrying life inside her (an unborn child) was gunned down by the very person who once claimed to LOVE her. Her co-victim? His own LEGAL wife. This is not just a tragedy; it is an abomination, an unspeakable act of cowardice and brutality that reflects the deeply rooted crisis of GENDER-BASED violence and toxic masculinity in South Africa.

The Lusikisiki shooting is not an isolated incident. It is another gruesome entry in South Africa’s growing list of femicides. It raises the same haunting question we have asked countless times: WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR MEN?

The Southern Curse: A Crisis Brewing in Silence. The southern regions of South Africa (especially the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Western Cape) have become breeding grounds for DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, MURDER-SUICIDES and UNRESOLVED GENDER TENSIONS. What we witnessed in Lusikisiki is not new. It is a brutal cycle of pain that repeats itself, only with different names, different dates, but the same outcomes: BLOOD, GRIEF, TRAUMA and IRREVERSIBLE LOSS. This very year, not far from Lusikisiki, another man in Mthatha SHOT and KILLED his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself, leaving behind their 4-year-old daughter. Last year in Butterworth, a young woman was STABBED to DEATH in front of her mother by her ex-boyfriend. How many more sisters, daughters, wives and pregnant lovers must die before we say “ENOUGH”?

We must address the harsh reality: some men in our communities are not LOVERS or PROTECTORS; they are PREDATORS in plain clothes. And we, as a SOCIETY, are enabling them with our SILENCE.

Violence MASQUERADING as MASCULINITY. Let us get one thing straight; VIOLENCE is not STRENGTH. Pulling a trigger on a defenseless woman is not a SIGN of MANHOOD; it is the most disgraceful form of WEAKNESS. True strength lies in RESTRAINT, in WALKING AWAY, in PROTECTING rather than DESTROYING. Unfortunately, many young men in the Southern region are growing up without the emotional education necessary to differentiate between DOMINANCE and DIGNITY, between RESPECT and POSSESSION.

Too many boys are being raised to believe that women are OBJECTS to be OWNED and when they assert their independence, these boys (now men) respond with violence. That is not LOVE. That is SICKNESS. That is ENTITLEMENT. That mindset must be UNLEARNED.

A Pregnant Woman, A Mother, A Life Snuffed Out. Imagine the FEAR that gripped that young pregnant woman in her final moments. Imagine the BETRAYAL she must have felt. To carry someone’s child and be repaid with death. That is not just murder; it is an assault on humanity, a crime against the unborn and a blasphemy against the sanctity of life.

And the wife? She too bore the burden of COMMITMENT, TRUST and PARTNERSHIP, only to be met with CRUELTY. Two women. One gun. One man. The lives of families, friends and entire communities shattered forever. We must never NORMALIZE this MADNESS.

The Failure of Society and Justice. Let us not pretend that these incidents happen in a vacuum. Our JUSTICE system is slow. Our police often fail to act on protection orders. Our communities gossip, but they rarely intervene. Religious and traditional leaders, who ought to speak boldly against domestic abuse, often stay silent, choosing RESPECTABILITY over RESPONSIBILITY. When cases like this happen, we act surprised; but should we be? We ignored the WARNING SIGNS. We saw the VERBAL ABUSE. We saw the CONTROL. We heard the SCREAMS at night. We saw the BRUISES hidden behind SMILES and FOUNDATION, but we said “It is none of our business.” Well, now it is everyone’s business. Now, two women are dead. A child is dead before it could live. And the man is still on the run.

To the Youth: Violence is Never the Answer. To the young men growing up in the dusty streets of Lusikisiki, Flagstaff, Butterworth, Mthatha and beyond, listen carefully: VIOLENCE will never earn you RESPECT. You cannot control a woman by killing her. You cannot earn love with fists or bullets. If you are hurting, SEEK HELP. If you are angry, WALK AWAY. If she says no, ACCEPT IT. There are organizations. There are friends. There is therapy. There are police stations, churches and youth centres. Murder? That is the end of your story and hers. If you want to be a real man, PROTECT. DO not DESTROY.

Advice to the Community: Silence is Complicity. Communities in the South must wake up. It is time to say NO to the CULTURE of SILENCE. DO not turn the other way when a woman CRIES for HELP. DO not LAUGH off SIGNS of ABUSE. Do not SHAME VICTIMS. Above all, do not make EXCUSES for ABUSIVE men.

“O monna ke monna ka basadi” ~ A man is a man through women.

Let us begin to redefine MASCULINITY not as DOMINANCE, but as DIGNITY. Not as CONTROL, but as COMPASSION. Not as FEAR, but as RESPONSIBILITY.

Government’s Role: Words Are Not ENOUGH. Yes, President Ramaphosa has spoken against gender-based violence. Yes, there are legal frameworks and action plans. Yet how many more must die before those words translate to REAL ACTION? We need quicker responses, better protection systems, harsher punishments and a nationwide campaign targeting men, particularly in rural regions, with re-education programs and emotional support. This cannot be fixed by hashtags or photo-ops. It requires long-term investment in justice, education and community healing.

In the words of renowned African legal scholar Prof. PLO Lumumba: “The tragedy of Africa is not that our men are poor, but that their minds are imprisoned by archaic beliefs.”

It is time to free our men from the MENTAL CHAINS of CHAUVINISM and VIOLENCE; because until that happens, Lusikisiki will not be the last tragedy. It will be one of many.

Final Thoughts: From Tears to Change. We are weeping again. Another FUNERAL. Another SET of GRAVES. Another HEADLINE that will FADE in a week.

Let us do something different this TIME. Let us channel our grief into a MOVEMENT. Let us hold each other ACCOUNTABLE. Let us teach our sons DIFFERENTLY. Let us raise our voices for our DAUGHTERS.

Let Lusikisiki not just be the site of death, but the BEGINNING of CHANGE, because if we don’t stop this now, we will all have blood on our hands.

George Omagbemi Sylvester writes from South Africa and is a human rights advocate and journalist. This article was published by SaharaWeeklyNG.com