Devil’s Gates Are Opening: Khwezi Family Says Time Has Come For Her Alleged Rapist

BREAKING NEWS: Family Of Khwezi To Hold Weekend Of Remembrance Says Tears Of Fezeka Kuzwayo Will Be Honoured

The family of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo — the woman South Africa came to know as Khwezi — has announced a weekend of family celebrations and ritual to honour their daughter, saying they believe the long and painful chapter of her life is reaching a moment of spiritual closure.

In a statement shared with community members this weekend, the Kuzwayo family said they will slaughter a cow tomorrow as a traditional act of respect and honour for their one and only daughter, who they describe as a victim of rape.

According to the family, the ceremony is intended to signal respects and honour to Fezeka, to cleanse lingering pain, and to affirm that her story has not been forgotten. Family elders said this weekend’s gathering is about remembrance, dignity and healing.

The family said in their message that the tears of their raped child Fezeka Ntsukela Kuzwayo, known publicly as Khwezi, are about to be answered. In highly symbolic language, they said the man they hold responsible for raping her — whom they described as being “in the gates of Devil’s Yard” and that “it’s a matter of time before Devil opens the gates and officially admits him” — is now facing what they see as divine accountability.

The family further said that their daughter, who was forced to flee the country after laying charges, paid a heavy price for speaking out.

Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo was born into an ANC family with deep roots in the liberation struggle. Her father, Judson Kuzwayo, spent time on Robben Island alongside the man she would later accuse. In the public domain her supporters called her Khwezi, a pseudonym adopted to protect her identity after threats.

On 2 November 2005, Kuzwayo laid a charge that she had been raped at a home in Forest Town, Johannesburg. The accused was Jacob Zuma, then Deputy President of the country and ANC. Zuma denied the allegations, said the sex was consensual, and was acquitted of rape charges by the Johannesburg High Court on 8 May 2006. Judge van der Merwe censured him for having unprotected sex knowing Khwezi was HIV-positive.

What followed became one of the most divisive trials in South African history. Outside the court, supporters burned photos of Khwezi and carried posters questioning her integrity. Inside, the case forced a national conversation about rape, power, HIV stigma and victim-blaming that South Africa has never stopped having.

Fearing for her life after receiving death threats, Khwezi, who was HIV-positive, went into exile following the trial. She fled to the Netherlands and later returned to South Africa. She died on 8 October 2016 at the age of 41, after a short illness. Her family announced her passing with the words: “In our family she was lovingly known as Fezeka, and in the public domain her supporters called her Khwezi. She was a loving soul.”

Her mother, Beauty Kuzwayo, later passed away as well, leaving extended family as custodians of her memory.

The family’s planned slaughter of a cow tomorrow is, in Zulu and Nguni tradition, not a celebration of death, but an act of ukuhlonipha — to honour, to communicate with ancestors, and to restore balance to a homestead that has carried grief.

Sources close to the family say this weekend was chosen to bring together relatives who scattered after years of trauma and public vilification, and to reaffirm that Fezeka’s decision to speak out in 2005 was an act of courage.

The family said that their one and only daughter who is a victim of rape had to flee the country because of her rapist — a reference to Khwezi’s exile after the 2006 trial.

The family has not named any individual in its formal ritual invitation beyond referring to “her rapist” in symbolic terms, and has made no claim about any person’s current medical condition. There has been no independent medical confirmation from any hospital regarding the health status of former President Jacob Zuma, who was acquitted in the case.

Civil society groups that supported Khwezi during the trial have long regarded her as an icon of women’s struggle against the scourge of rape. President Cyril Ramaphosa said in 2017 that he believes Khwezi was raped, while the court record remains one of acquittal.

For the Kuzwayo family, however, the court verdict never erased what they say was their lived experience. Tomorrow’s ceremony, they say, is not about vengeance, but about finally being able to mourn their daughter publicly, without fear, and to tell her spirit that her tears were seen.

Source:https://x.com/malalaveve/status/2108615797425766570

EkeleJohn feedback-opera-news-app@opera.com