Double murder sparks outrage over alcohol-related violence

THE murder of two cousins, Tshi-amo Moralanga, 22, and Bolaseng Moralanga, 21, in Mamelodi East on October 26, has once again forced the nation to confront the persistent scourge of intimate partner violence.

- NOKUTHULA C MAZIBUKO

WITHOUT addressing alcohol abuse, illegal guns and entrenched patriarchy, it will be difficult to address South Africa's ongoing gender-based violence epidemic, says the author. | TRACEY ADAMS African News Agency(ANA)

(TRACEY ADAMS African News Agency(ANA))

The alleged perpetrator, Tebogo Mnisi, 38, reportedly a tavern bouncer and partner of one of the women, has become the face of yet another tragedy rooted in the toxic intersection of alcohol abuse, patriarchal power and access to illegal guns closely tied to power.

Research studies suggest that South Africa has between 2.5 million and 4 million illegal guns in circulation, exceeding the number of legally owned ones. Many of these weapons are results of the apartheid era, lost or stolen from state armouries or trafficked through organised crime networks.

As the community reels from shock, outrage and anger, it is difficult not to recall the deeper structural and historical forces that continue to enable such violence. Between 2012 and 2014, I conducted doctoral research in Mamelodi East that examined the relationship between alcohol consumption and domestic violence in township settings. At that time, the Moralanga cousins would have been no older than 10 or 11 years old — children growing up in a social landscape already defined by hardship, gendered inequalities and limited opportunity.