Another South African girl has been raped and murdered in a grisly fashion.

Two months after Anene Booysen was found raped and disemboweled, another teenager, 14-year old Thandeka Madonsela, was found after having been raped and disemboweled in the veld in Naturena, south-west of Joburg.

Two boys, ages 16 and 17 have been arrested and charged with the murder of Madonsela; both boys have been released into the custody of their parents to await trial.

The parallels between the Anene Booysen rape and murder and the circumstances surrounding the crimes committed to Thandeka are uncanny.

Both women were gang-raped. Both women’s bodies were discovered close to their homes. Both women knew at least one of their attackers. Both women were being raised by someone other than their birth mother and father–Anene resided with a foster mother; Thandeka with a grandmother.

Thandeka Madonsela was home alone when she was lured outside by one of the boys who attacked her. Mandosela had been left in the care of a neighbor by her grandmother, who had gone out of town to attend a funeral. The neighbor, Mbali Meyiwa, charged with caring for Mandosela said that on Friday night around 10PM the girl had pleaded to go home and spend the night in her own bed because she was homesick. Meyiwa took the girl to the nearby abode where she resided with her grandmother and after seeing the girl safely inside Meyiwa went home. That was the last time Meyiwa saw Thandeka.

Early on Saturday morning neighbors found Mandosela’s mutilated body less than a mile from her grandmother’s home. One of the boys who was arrested for the crime of murdering Thandeka admitted that he had called the girl around 2AM Saturday and asked her to come outside. Obviously, Thandeka trusted the boy enough to meet him in the dark in those early morning hours–that was the decision made in innocence and naivete that led her into the waiting snare of her tormentors.

Upon learning of her granddaughters death Gladys Madonsela rushed back to Joburg. “I received a call while I was away that something bad had happened to Thandeka. I thought she was just injured. I was shocked when I found out that she had left us, especially in such a callous manner,” said Madonsela.

Source: “Teens accused of girl’s rape, murder released” IoL News
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Jamila Akil is a Senior Editor at Beyond Black and White. Follow her on Twitter @jamilaakil