#JusticeForTshegoPule: Man Charged With Murder of 28-Year-Old Woman in South Africa

UPDATE: 6/17: A man has been charged with the murder of 28-year-old Tshego Pule, whose body was found hanging from a tree last week in Johannesburg, South Africa after she went missing on June 4. The gruesome murder reignited protests around rampant femicide in the country.

According to BBC Africa, 31 year-oldMzikayise Malephane, appeared in court on Wednesday and has been charged with pre-meditated murder. The case is slated to move forward on June 24. Authorities believe that others may have been involved in the murder and have urged the public to assist in the investigation.

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South African women continue to live in fear as gender-based violence and femicide persist alongside the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently, 28-year-old Tshego Pule, was found hanging from a tree with stab wounds to her chest after having gone missing at the beginning of June, according to the Gauteng Department of Social Development. Pule was also reportedly heavily pregnant at the time of her death.

READ: Investigation Launches Into Death of LGBT Sex Worker in Police Custody

Social media has erupted into #JusticeForTshegoPule with reactions to not only the young woman's death, the deaths of countless women before her.

Last year, hundreds of South African women marched against gender-based violence and demanded that it could not be "business as usual." The protests came in the wake of numerous deaths of young South African women at the hands of men. While President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government established various task forces and assured protesters that crimes against women would be dealt with the full might of the law, very little has come from those assurances.

Although South Africa's femicide rate is five-times that of the global average, the government continues to lack the political will required to take action.

And while South Africa undeniably leads the way in terms of violence against women, Nigerians are also fed up. The recent online movement #WeAreTired saw Nigerians demanding that the government take fierce action against gender-based and police violence in the country, following a string of violent cases against young women. The online protests came shortly after the death of 23-year-old student Vera Omozuwa.

Here are some reactions to #JusticeForTshegoPule below: