Johannesburg theater manager Rulov Senekal last weekend became the eighth victim in a two-year string of unsolved murders in South Africa, all involving gay men who were killed within their own homes, with no signs of forced entry.
Two men were seen entering Senekal’s apartment building on Saturday evening, only to emerge half an hour later with Senekal’s laptop and a large black plastic bag. On Sunday, a concerned neighbor entered Senekal’s apartment with the help of building security, where they found him bound and murdered.
In the past two years, seven other men in the Johannesburg-Pretoria area have lost their lives in similar fashions, most recently former South African TV host and HIV/AIDS activist Jason Wessenaar in December. Many of the men apparently met their attackers online or through cell phone apps.
Dawie Nel, director of South African LGBT rights group OUT, has decried the slow efforts of local police to apprehend the killers in this gay-targeted murder string. Officials have thus far refused to concede that the killings are connected.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“We fear that someone is preying on gay men, and the authorities appear unwilling to acknowledge this,” Nell said in January after Wessenaar’s death. “There is a perception that there is a lack of interest in the cases, in part due to the sexual orientation of the victims.”
Nel has said that OUT is in discussions with pro bono lawyers who may be able to help pressure authorities into action on the cases.
Photo via Facebook
Joe
This is awful, I hope the police put a stop to it soon. Serial killers just strike this unique note of terror for me. I guess because there’s no warning that you might be targeted. Drive by shootings normally in a certain locations that you either avoid or at least developing some coping skills if you live there. Murder in passion involves nominally the people in your life and which again makes you feel some kind of control. And so on, even freak accidents of nature, while more random at least don’t contain malice. This though, this is someone deciding, and there’s no real way to feel safe from it.
Alex
The police won’t do anything. It must be horrible being so helpless in that country. I really hope for the best for them.
andreusz
@Joe: ‘I hope the police put a stop to it soon.’
The South African police don’t know how to take fingerprints.
andreusz
…and if you think they give a damn about the deaths of a few white moffies, well, all I can say is that you’re living in a dream world.
SuperCat
@andreusz:
All the victims were white?
I heard all the Afrikaners and Boers might get genocide.
http://www.genocidewatch.org/southafrica.html