Logging into Twitter today is one of the worst decisions I have made this week. The hashtag #RIPKarabo was trending and I couldn't help but wonder who she was. Did a celebrity die? Was she in public office? As I followed the trend, I saw her picture - Karabo Mokoena, a beautiful young woman whose smile was enough to melt the heart of Hades. I'd seen her picture before - two weeks ago when it was stated by a twitter user that she was missing. I remember thinking to myself 'perhaps she's hanging out with friends and will return'. A number of people who have been declared missing have been found, right?
I COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG
Today her picture is flooding social media because she was found dead. Dead. Killed and burned allegedly by her ex-boyfriend. I could not begin to fathom the last few minutes of her passage from this earth, as her life flashed before her eyes and she realized with that final breath that all her dreams and aspirations were not going to happen. I tried to imagine what kind of rage possessed him to kill her and then proceed to set her on fire. Was it to hide evidence? Or was he just mad that she was slipping out of his hands? Did he feel he desperately needed to do something? what was crossing his mind?
Source: The Express Tribune
I am sad and angry at the same time. Sad at the fact that many women are killed by the men who 'love' them. Many women are violated by the men who promised to stand by them and support them. Many women are stifled, insulted, berated and mentally destroyed by the men who once told them they felt like home.
Many women are dead inside but no one can tell. They show up at work, listen to presentations, smile, perhaps even laugh sometimes. But you can tell if you know the song that once played from their hearts that their lights have been dimmed, some even put out completely, by the men who are meant to be their pillars of support.
The songs in their hearts have stopped playing, and all they do is respond to the autoplay tune they have become accustomed to. Many women die physically; many women die emotionally; many women die in many ways because of the actions of someone who 'loves' them and whom they love. My question is 'why do men think it is normal behaviour to kill us?
