Calls to remove pit bulls as domestic pets from households have been reignited.
This after 28-year-old Nomathemba Kweleta was mauled to death by four pit bulls in Namibia in Bloemfontein on Monday.
There has been a string of incidents of pit bull attacks in recent years. The deceased’s family says her life should be the last one claimed by pit bulls.
Shattered and struggling to digest the gruesome attack, 20-year-old Sisonke Nayinayi is the only family member who got to the scene just after the incident occurred.
She had to identify her cousin and collect some of her remains which got left behind after pathologists left the scene. She struggles to sleep at night.
“I rushed to the scene, the police were present and I alerted them that I was the victim’s cousin, I had to explain to the officers how I heard of the incident, thus they granted me access to the crime scene to make a positive identification. I asked the officers if she was still alive and they could not positively confirm. It’s really hard especially when it’s at night because everything comes back…so I went there when I arrived.”
More traumatic to the family is that Kweleta’s five-year-old child witnessed the incident.
“She loved her children, she used to walk the five-year-old to school. The way he was so close to his mom, he is even asking where his mother is and when is her funeral,” says aunt Tambo Tsholela.
Beyond government intervention, the family is also calling on the community to realise that pit bulls are not pets but wild animals.
“We don’t want to see another family feeling what we are feeling, imagine four dogs on top of you. It’s something else, to take final breath knowing that these cruel things are here I can just imagine. I don’t even want to talk about it because I don’t sleep and apart from anything that video causes reflections in my head. What I can say in closure is that please the government really must stand on this one,” says Sibongile Kweleta-Mkaliphi.
The newly elected Free State Premier says government will take action. She also sent condolences to the victim’s family.
“I’ll be directing our government to implement henceforth effective safety measures to prevent such vicious attacks on our people,” says Premier Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae.
The owner of the pit bulls has been charged with culpable homicide.
Video: [GRAPHIC CONTENT] Another Free State pit bull attack – SABC speaks to victim’s family
