THERE has been another brutal killing in the LGBTQI+ community in Durban.
Limakatso Puling (29), who was lesbian but identified as a man, was shot and killed in Quarry Heights, north of Durban, on Friday.
According to his girlfriend Thembeka Ngcendula (34) was walking back home with a friend when they were attacked by the suspects.
“It was in the afternoon when he told me he was going for a few hours to visit a friend. His visit took longer than I expected because it was now around 7pm but he was still not home. I called him but his phone rang unanswered. I became worried because he takes my calls no matter what,” said Thembeka.
She said moments later, a few residents arrived looking for Lima’s family or a person close to him.
Thembeka said she told them his family was in the Eastern Cape, where he was from.
She said residents instructed her to follow them as they had been sent by the police to call Lima’s next of kin.
“I kept asking them what he had done but they said nothing,” said Thembeka.
She said when they got closer she saw a group of residents standing around a person lying upright.
“The police asked me questions and told me to assist with his family’s contact details as he had been shot. They never told me he was dead but I demanded to go and touch him. That’s where I realised he was no more, his body was cold,” said Thembeka.
She said she was told Lima and the friend were being mugged but he resisted.
“They then became angry, saying to him that by being a lesbian, he now thought he was a real man. They then shot and killed him and took his phone and fled,” said Thembeka.
LGBTQI+ community director in KZN, Hlengiwe Buthelezi said the continual attacks on their members needed to stop.
“In June, Anele Bhengu (28) was raped, stabbed and her throat was slit in KwaMakhutha. Last month, Sisanda Gumede (28) was stabbed to death and now we’re mourning Lima’s death. We’re appealing to government to come up with other means to protect us because we are being targeted. We’re now living in fear. The Constitution allows us to openly reveal our sexual choices yet when we do that, those that hate us kill us like flies,” said Hlengiwe.
KZN police spokeswoman Colonel Thembeka Mbele said Greenwood Park police are investigating a case of murder but no one has been arrested yet.
