THE murder of two cousins, Tshiamo Moralanga, 22, and Bolaseng Moralanga, 21, in Mamelodi East on October 26, has once again forced the nation to confront the persistent scourge of intimate partner violence.
The alleged perpetrator, Tebogo Mnisi, 38, reportedly a tavern bouncer and partner to one of the victims, has become the face of yet another tragedy rooted in the toxic intersection of alcohol abuse, patriarchal power, and access to illegal guns closely tied to power.
Research studies suggest that South Africa has between 2.5 and 4 million illegal guns in circulation, exceeding the number of legally owned ones. Many of these weapons are results of the apartheid era, lost or stolen from state armouries, or trafficked through organised crime networks.…