A grade 11 learner was assaulted and has become the fourth reported member of the LGBTIQ+ community to be murdered in South Africa this year.
Liyabona Mabishi,16, was stabbed 13 times in Nkanini, Khayelitsha on Human Rights Day, Saturday March 21.
It’s been reported that the young teenager was strolling with a friend when she accidentally bumped into a man that was part of a group of men. It’s said that Liyabona apologised to the man, but was attacked and stabbed several times, repeatedly, with wounds inflicted to her face and neck.
Her friend, an 18-year-old male, attempted to intervene but also ended up being stabbed. Liyabona was rushed to hospital but succumbed to her injuries before she could reach help, while her friend survived.
“I have always kept her by my side fearing for her life. I feared that she might be a victim of ‘corrective rape’. I never thought she would be killed like this,” the teen’s mother, Philiswa Mabishi, told Daily Voice.
Though the intent of the crime is yet to be established as an LGBT hate-crime, Mabishi joins at least three other members of the community reported to have been murdered in the first three months of 2020.
“This horrific act of violence has no place in our society,” says Roché Kester, Hate Crimes Manager at OUT LGBT Well-being, labelling the ordeal as “senseless”.
“There is an urgent need for the president to fulfil his promises to implement effective strategies to combat gender-based violence,” demands Kester.
“Femicide is now a societal norm in South Africa and it must be countered by putting effective preventative and reactive measures in place for women to have a sense of safety in our society. This includes LBQ women”.
The DA Cape Metro LGBTQIA+ Committee called the stabbing “an affront on our humanity”.
Councillor Roberto Miguel Quintas, the committee’s chairperson, and DA LGBTIQ+ activist, Sindiswa Sibiya, visited Mabishi’s family at their home.
“The level of pain we experienced when meeting with her family and neighbours was tangible and the very real sense of anger was felt by all of us together,” said Quintas.
Trees to celebrate Arbor Month