PRETORIA - The #NotInMyName movement has welcomed the guilty verdict handed down to 23-year-old Bafana Mahungela on Friday.
The Johannesburg High Court found Mahungela guilty of the 2023 murder of 34-year-old Sandton teacher Kirsten Kluyts.
In a statement, the civil society movement deemed the conviction a significant victory for justice and a reminder that “no woman should live in fear while going about her daily life”.
"#NotInMyName International extends its deepest condolences to the Kluyts family, whose pain cannot be undone by any verdict, but who can now see that the perpetrator has been held accountable,” the statement read
Mahungela, a former Varsity College student, was arrested in November 2023 after CCTV footage showed him leaving the scene of the crime wearing Kluyt’s T-shirt.
READ | Bafana Mahungela found guilty of killing Kirsten Kluyts
Kluyt’s body was discovered on a jogging path in a park.
A post-mortem revealed that she died from blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.
Kluyts was 14 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder.
Mahungela was found guilty on all counts; kidnapping, robbery and murder.
Sentencing proceedings have been set down for 27 October.
#NotInMyName movement has urged the court to impose the maximum sentence, saying “anything less would betray the memory of Kirsten Kluyts and undermine the fight against GBVF in South Africa”.