Yonela Sodam had her whole life ahead of her when she was brutally beaten to death, allegedly by her boyfriend who has since appeared in court for her murder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has since been revealed that she suffered a broken arm last year after the accuser allegedly beat her with a hammer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like the families of so many other victims, Aphiwe Sodam has been left with unanswered questions about her sister\u2019s senseless killing. First and foremost the question \u201cwhy?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I was in court I couldn\u2019t look at him because I was so angry and so sad at the same time. Why did he have to kill my sister like a dog?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sodam\u2019s body was discovered after her boyfriend of the past five years, Lonwabo Mtyibilizi, asked her mother to call the ambulance as she wasn\u2019t waking up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe told my mother he had hit her with a beer bottle but when the forensics people picked up her body they discovered a hammer,\u201d said Aphiwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luckily the couple\u2019s 4-year old daughter Anila wasn\u2019t at home as she was spending the night with her granny. Aphiwe said the family initially supported the relationship but later tried to convince her sister to leave Mtyibilizi when they became aware he allegedly abused Sodam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Baxolo Jini, another relative, confirmed this. \u201cThis was the second or third time we know of,\u201d he said. \u201cLast year he broke Yonela\u2019s arm when he hit her with a hammer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe told her to leave him, but Yonela always had hope that they could sort things out. I didn\u2019t want their child to go through the same things I experienced as a child when my father beat my mother. She eventually decided to leave him and I am lucky my school helped me to see psychiatrists and get help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason for her sister\u2019s deadly assault, said Aphiwe, is unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t expect this from him. He is very quiet and doesn\u2019t talk much. Yonela was a bubbly person and laughed and joked with everyone. Maybe he was jealous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Warrant Officer Freddie Booysen, spokesperson for Stanford police, confirmed police officials had arrested the victim\u2019s boyfriend at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe suspect and the deceased reportedly had gone out earlier and on their way back home they had an argument,\u201d he related. \u201cThe incident occurred during load shedding and nobody witnessed the assault.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ANC councillor Connie Tafu-Nwonkwo and members of the community supported Yonela\u2019s relatives and friends when Mtyibilizi first appeared on a charge of murder in the Hermanus Magistrates\u2019 Court on Thursday 4 May. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week Thembile Klaas, EFF MP, appealed to women gathered in front of the court to break the silence on gender-based violence (GBV) and to leave toxic and abusive relationships before they too ended up dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are here today to demand that the courts should never grant bail to the perpetrators of these crimes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wendy Vanqa, the EFF Overberg Regional Deputy Secretary and their anti-GBV co-ordinator, reiterated this and said it would be very hurtful for the victim\u2019s family to see the suspect walking free in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vanqa appealed to women and their loved ones to report abuse. She said: \u201cIf you don\u2019t have confidence in the police, you can contact me on 078 425 4425 or 061 467 4608.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EFF Overberg Regional Secretary Emihle Honxo confirmed they had submitted a petition demanding that Mtyibilizi\u2019s bail application be denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents of Stanford also started an online petition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Friday the online petition had approximately 100 signatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Siphiwo Beyi, deputy chairperson of the EFF in the Overberg, expressed his anger at the accused\u2019s apparent lack of remorse shown in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe stood there smiling and greeting everyone. I became very angry because this is a very serious matter and he didn\u2019t show any remorse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group indicated that they would once again be at court on 17 May to ask that Mtyibilizi\u2019s bail application be denied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yonela Sodam had her whole life ahead of her when she was brutally beaten to death, allegedly by her boyfriend who has since appeared in court for her murder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":48457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-image-id":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-image-id":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_crsspst_to_novanewscoza":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozabloemnewsexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozacityvision":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozadistrictmailhelderberg":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaeikestadnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakomani-karoo":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozakougaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozamthathaexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozanoordkaapbulletin":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapaarlpost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozapeoplespost":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaswartlandgazette":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozatygerburger":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaudexpress":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavistanews":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozavrystaatkroon":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweskusnuus":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaweslander":false,"_crsspst_to_novanewscozaworcesterstandard":false,"_EventAllDay":"","_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":"","_EventShowMapLink":"","_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":"","_EventVenueID":"","_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":"","_VenueShowMapLink":"","_application":"","_batch_id":"","_company_name":"","_company_tagline":"","_company_twitter":"","_company_video":"","_company_website":"","_custom_id":"890ec19e-adf4-402f-8735-37f98cfcfdf0","_EventDuration":"","_EventOrigin":"","_EventTimezoneAbbr":"","_featured":"","_filled":"","_job_expires":"","_job_location":"","_media_credit":"","_media_credit_url":"","_menu_item_menu_item_parent":"","_menu_item_object":"","_menu_item_object_id":"","_menu_item_target":"","_menu_item_type":"","_menu_item_url":"","_menu_item_xfn":"","_navis_media_can_distribute":"","_navis_media_credit_org":"","_OrganizerOrigin":"","_provider":"","_pum_built_in":"","_pum_default_theme":"","_pum_form_conversion_count":"","_remote_id":"","_remote_name":"","_remote_position":"","_report_frequency":"","_report_reference_dates":"","_send_attempts":"","_site_id":"","_sitemap_exclude":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_sitemap_priority":"","_source_url":"","_subscription_period":"","_subscription_period_interval":"","_subscription_price":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":"","_template_type":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_tribe_aggregator_allow_multiple_organizers":"","_tribe_aggregator_content_type":"","_tribe_aggregator_file":"","_tribe_aggregator_finalized":"","_tribe_aggregator_hash":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_id":"","_tribe_aggregator_import_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_interactive":"","_tribe_aggregator_origin":"","_tribe_aggregator_post_status":"","_tribe_aggregator_preview":"","_tribe_aggregator_source_name":"","_tribe_aggregator_type":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_hide_attendees_list":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":"","_tribe_ticket_version":"","_type":"","_VenueOrigin":"","_wp_attachment_context":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","_wp_font_face_file":"","_wp_old_date":"","_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskeywords":"","_yoast_wpseo_focuskw_text_input":"","_yoast_wpseo_keywordsynonyms":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_block-catalog":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_job_listing_type":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_nova_retailer":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_publication":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_tribe_events_cat":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-duration":"","_yoast_wpseo_videositemap-rating":"","_menu_item_classes":[],"_tribe_modified_fields":[],"_wp_attachment_backup_sizes":[],"_wp_suggested_privacy_policy_content":[],"_yoast_post_redirect_info":[],"_yoast_wpseo_video_meta":[],"activation_date":"","archive_insertion_is_repeating":"","archive_insertion_posts_count":"","article_feature_media":"","article_feature_type":"","article_main_image_caption":"","article_media_icon":"","article_template":"","author_byline":"Bianca Du Plessis","background_color":"","block_editor":"","byline":"","cmplz_hide_cookiebanner":"","competition_end_date":"","contact_advertise_email":"","contact_advertise_phone":"","contact_editorial_email":"","contact_general_email":"","contact_general_phone":"","contact_office_hours":"","contact_physical_address":"","enabled":"","featured_image_custom_caption":"","featured_video_url":"","fields":"","font_body":"","font_header":"","frequency":"","headline":"","hide_border":"","icon":"","is_wp_suggestion":"","issuu_download_url":"","issuu_embed_url":"","language_version_url":"","large_border":"","name":"","nm_contact_name":"","nm_contact_number":"","nm_date_lost":"","no_overlay_background":"","node-url":"","obituary_born_date":"","obituary_died_date":"","obituary_memoriam_text":"","origin":"","overlay_color":"","overlay_opacity":"","overlay_size":"","placement":"","plural_label":"","post_author":"","post_id":"","post_language":"en","secret-key":"","sponsored_utm_campaign":"","sponsored_utm_content":"","sponsored_utm_medium":"","sponsored_utm_source":"","sponsored_utm_term":"","start_date":"","utm_suppression":"","video_embed_url":"","wp_pattern_sync_status":"","data_version":[],"enclosure":[],"pongrass_image":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-48455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n