COMMISSION FOR GENDER EQUALITY WELCOMED COURT JUDGEMENT WHICH FOUND SHOBA GUILTY OF MURDER
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The commission for Gender Equality (CGE) welcomes the Johannesburg High court ‘s judgement which found Ntuthuko Shoba guilty of the premeditated murder of Tshegofatso Pule in 2020. Pule was brutally murdered while she was eight months pregnant. The 28- year- old’s body was found hanging from a tree.
Acting Judge Stuart Wilson handed down the judgement at the high court of South Africa’s Local Division on Friday,28 March 2022. Shoba has been charged with murder, an alternative charge of conspiracy to commit murder and defeating the ends of justice. The commission for the Gender Equality says it is disturbed about the alarming rates of GBVF occurrences in South Africa and hopes that the incarceration of both Mzikayise Malepane and Ntuthuko Shoba will send a strong message to GBVF perpetrators.
The CGE still expresses its unhappiness over the long process the case took to arrive to a conclusion. The commission urge the justice system to speed up GBVF cases to restore public faith in the judiciary and demonstrate to the people of South Africa that gender- based crimes are highly prioritised in the courts.
The CGE hopes for a tougher sentence befitting the brutality that was meted out to Tshegofatso Pule and her unborn baby.
