Statement by Dr Vicky Knoetze MPL – DA Shadow MEC for Community Safety
The guilty plea by Lelethu Nkosana in connection with the brutal murder of eight-year-old Veronique May brings an important measure of justice for a family and community that have carried unimaginable grief for almost a year.
Veronique, affectionately known as Koekoe, disappeared from KwaLanga in Kariega last October. Her body was found the following day, just metres from her home.
She was eight years old. She should have been growing up, going to school, playing with her friends, and dreaming about her future. Instead, her life was stolen from her in the most horrific circumstances.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that all South Africans deserve to live in neighbourhoods where they feel safe, where their children can play, and where families can go about their lives without fear of violent crime.
As South Africa marks Women’s Month, Veronique’s murder is a painful reminder that our commitment to the safety of women must include the girls who are growing up in communities where violence has become far too common.
The criminal justice system must deal firmly with those who commit these crimes, as they have done with Nkosana, but justice after a child has been murdered is not enough. The government also has a responsibility to build communities where children are safe before tragedy strikes.
The DA solution, if elected to govern Nelson Mandela Bay, is to bring crime-fighting closer to communities.
The DA’s 2026 Local Government Election Manifesto focuses on empowering municipalities to fight crime directly, including through stronger municipal policing powers, increased visible policing, greater investigative and intelligence capacity, and closer cooperation between municipal law enforcement, SAPS, private security, neighbourhood watches, and community policing forums.
I will continue to use the Legislature’s oversight mechanisms to push for stronger policing, better protection for women and children, properly functioning victim-support services, and accountability where the system fails.
No court outcome can return Veronique to those who loved her. But justice for Koekoe must strengthen our determination to build communities where no other child suffers the same fate.
Iron Butterfly
Fun South African Fact: Mandela’s house on Vilakazi Street is now a museum. The man who the street was named after, Dr BW Vilakazi, was a poet, novelist and intellectual. He helped develop the written form of both isiZulu and siSwati and helped put together the isiZulu dictionary.
Flashpoint
The quickest means of communication is to trust a girl with a rumor and then make her vow not to tell