Kiss The Boys: Serial Killer Targets Gay Men in South Africa

South Africa, known for gold, diamonds, apartheid and Nelson Mandela; is popular in the gay community for many reasons. First, it’s the only country in Africa where GLBT are protected by the law and allowed to marry, with all the well-known tax and other benefits that comes with it. It’s also given us some fabulous porn stars such as Kurt Rogers and Jason Kingsley (yes, the link is SFW). On the other hand, it has become infamous for its high frequency of violence against lesbians and now, the violent murder of gay men. South Africa is actually the country with the second highest number of serial killers (after the United States) according to South African profiler M. Pistorius. The information available on these crimes suggest that they are the work of a serial killer and even more worrying is that the police do not seem any closer to catching him after three years and the killing spree shows no signs of abating. 

 

New World Jack The Rippper

I wonder about serial killings in Africa. I don’t know if they are as commonplace as in the West (in terms of statistical data) but sometimes I feel that such crimes may even be more commonplace. Very often crimes committed against members of lower socio-economic classes are be under-reported, murders may often be grouped under ritual killings/sacrifice. The sad thing is that even when the media goes crazy over a case, it doesn’t take a lot of time before the frenzy dies down, the murderers remain at-large and everyone goes back to the rat race, only for the cycle to repeat itself. There is also the possibility that the police may be so occupied with other more important tasks (providing security to some politicians is a prime example) that such crimes as these take a back seat.

Enter Rwanda, where fifteen young women have been murdered in only three months in the capital city.