For Anene Booysen 1996 - 2013

Hamba Kahle Anene Booysen! (1996 – 2013) Dead at 17, brutally raped and left to die, in the dirt, at a construction site in Bredasdorp. ‘horrific’, ‘repulsed’, ‘brutally raped’, ‘shocked’, do these words mean anything, to anyone, anymore. Not to Anene Booysen, murdered at 17, brutally raped and left to die, in the dirt, at a construction site in Bredasdorp. Anene was raped, savagely mutilated, Her 17 year old body tossed aside, by the hands of men. Men, always men, cowardly, beastly, perverted, twisted men. ‘Beastly’, ‘perverted’, ‘twisted’, do these words mean anything, to anyone, anymore. Not to Anene Booysen, who now lies cold and dead. How many Anene Booysens will it take, for us, society, families, people, human-beings, and, men, especially men, to excise the ghastly menace, of the heinous capacity that resides, within men, always men, to brutalise, rape, mutilate, and murder. ‘Brutalise’, ‘murder’, ‘rape’, do these words mean anything, to anyone, anymore. Not to Anene Booysen, murdered at 17, brutally raped and left, to die, in the dirt, at a construction site, in Bredasdorp. Anene Booysen (1996 – 2013) * – Hamba Kahle – “Farewell, Travel Well” in Zulu ** – Bredasdorp is a small town near Cape Town, South Africa