Ian Cameron engagement report

Best tweets

• Sep 28, 202611x their median

  I want people to remember Sivenathi Toto as the young woman she was before the attack. Sive was only 23. In August 2022 she was attacked so severely in George that her life changed permanently. According to the case before court, she was dragged from her home, assaulted until she lost consciousness and then dumped near a petrol station. She survived. But she suffered severe brain damage and a stroke. She lost her ability to speak and walk independently and is now permanently wheelchair-bound and dependent on other people for her daily care. The man accused of attacking her was reportedly granted bail the day after his arrest. Action Society became involved and continued monitoring her case. Four years later, the court process is still continuing. When we talk about GBV victims, we understandably speak about the women who have been murdered. But there are also women like Sive. Alive, but carrying catastrophic injuries for the rest of their lives. Her life cannot simply become another forgotten court file because she survived. Say her name too. IC

  3.9K1.9K9553301K viewsView on X
• Feb 19, 20226.8x their median

  The biggest reason for the state of South Africa is not government or the ANC, it due to apathy and silent diplomacy. The fact that we don't show the world what happens to good men like Terrance Tegg and innocent little children like Chantal Makwena. https://t.co/2YqFCWo1Qy https://t.co/5qLMWmTTIx

  2.6K72833544View on X
• Sep 27, 20265.6x their median

  A man selling tripe for R20 a plate should not need permission from criminals to earn a living. Phumlani Vokovi, an actor, artist manager and small-business owner, was shot dead while reportedly closing his food stall in Joe Slovo, Milnerton. His wife, Nichume, was later shot dead at their home. Friends believe the murders followed a dispute over an alleged monthly “protection fee”. His family has rightly said they are waiting for the police investigation before confirming any link to extortion. If that link is established, this case shows exactly how predatory organised crime has become. Extortion is no longer confined to construction sites or large businesses. Street traders, spaza shops, salons, taxi operators and people trying to build the smallest businesses are being targeted. Between April and June 2026, the Western Cape accounted for nearly half of the 112 protection-racket extortion cases recorded nationally. This is organised crime taking control of local economies, one street and one business at a time. Police cannot deal with this through occasional raids and arrests alone. These networks need to be mapped through crime intelligence, investigated properly, financially dismantled and prosecuted as organised criminal enterprises. Witnesses and business owners also need to know that reporting these syndicates will not leave them exposed. Someone selling a R20 plate of food is trying to survive, employ themselves and build something. Criminals cannot be allowed to decide whether they may do so. Two people are dead. The investigation must establish why, identify everyone involved, and follow the network behind the killings wherever the evidence leads. IC

  2.0K7691935397K viewsView on X
• Sep 28, 20263.3x their median

  Lihle Zenzile was ten years old. She was excited to start Grade 5. Her mother had bought her new school clothes. They had even spoken about going to the salon before school started. She never got to wear them. Lihle was raped and strangled in January 2023. Her body was hidden inside a trunk in her family home in Mbekweni, Paarl. The person responsible was a close relative living in the same house. Ou Action Society team back then received a mandate from Lihle’s mother to oversee the case, and I remember following it during a period when we seemed to be walking from one court involving a murdered or raped child into another. It took 621 days for the process to finally reach sentencing. Her killer received life imprisonment for rape and murder. There is something particularly difficult about a child being killed in the place where she should have been safest, by someone within the family circle. Lihle was ten. She should be worrying about school, friends and what she wanted to be when she grew up. Instead, her mother had to bury her. Say her name. Lihle Zenzile. IC

  1.2K587411531K viewsView on X
• Sep 29, 20263.1x their median

  Nicky Simpson’s case is one of the farm attacks from my earlier years that has never really left me. She survived. But what was done to her was extreme. During the attack in 2017 she was tortured, including having her knees and feet drilled with an electric drill Think about that for a moment. Violent crime statistics can become very clinical very quickly. We talk about a “farm attack”, an “assault” or a “robbery” and then move on to the next number. Those words do not explain what a victim actually lived through. Nicky survived the physical attack, but survivors carry these crimes long after the police have left the scene and the media have moved on. Women who survive serious violence deserve to be part of this conversation too. GBV and violent crime are not measured only in graves. They are also measured in permanent injuries, trauma, families forced from their homes and lives that never return to what they were before. I remember Nicky. IC

  1.2K443502522K viewsView on X
• Oct 5, 20263.0x their median

  This is Nkosinathi Emmanuel Phakathi. He was convicted on 148 charges, including 90 counts of rape. His victims included schoolchildren, with the youngest aged nine. He was sentenced to 42 life terms plus 791 years and six months. South Africa has a National Register for Sex Offenders, but ordinary South Africans cannot freely search it. We need lawful access to verified conviction information that can help people protect themselves and their children. #OpenTheRegister IC

  1.1K438481830K viewsView on X
• Oct 6, 20262.9x their median

  THE PEOPLE WE NEED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT FROM. This is Nicholas Ninow. He was convicted of raping a seven-year-old girl in a Pretoria restaurant bathroom and sentenced to life imprisonment. His name was ordered onto the National Register for Sex Offenders. Yet ordinary South Africans cannot freely search that register. Parents should not have to search years of news reports to find information like this. #OpenTheRegister IC

  1.1K402591175K viewsView on X
• Sep 27, 20262.8x their median

  At least 33 people have been shot dead in four separate attacks this weekend. Another 27 wounded. 17 in Wedela. 10 in Lwandle. Four in Site C, Khayelitsha. Two in Joe Slovo Park. We cannot keep treating potentially organised attacks as isolated murder cases. We don’t know the motives in all of these shootings yet. But when groups of armed men arrive together, kill multiple people and disappear, organised crime must be one of the lines of investigation from the start. GI-TOC has warned about the links between mass shootings, extortion, targeted killings, criminal markets and illicit firearms. Extortion is especially worrying because we almost certainly don’t see the full picture in official figures. Stats SA’s latest victim survey again shows that large amounts of crime are never reported to police. People cite distrust of police, believing nothing will be done and fear of reprisals among the reasons for staying silent. Think about what that means for extortion. If criminals are threatening to kill you or your family, and you don’t trust your local police station to protect your information, reporting can feel like putting your own life at risk. The recent murders of Phumlani and Nichume Vokovi are a disturbing example. Friends believe they were killed after an extortion dispute over their small tripe business. Police still need to establish the facts, but nobody selling R20 plates of food should have to pay criminals to stay alive. Finding gunmen is not enough. Where the evidence points to organised crime, bring Crime Intelligence, organised crime investigators, ballistics and prosecutors together early. Follow the guns, follow the money and build the case for prosecution from day one. 33 people dead in one weekend. Find the shooters, but investigate upwards. Find who armed them, paid them and sent them. Prosecute the network. IC

  1.0K3469724116K viewsView on X
• Oct 8, 20262.4x their median

  This is Andrea Imbayarwo, also known as Andrew Ndlovu. He was convicted of raping and murdering Christine Robinson at her lodge in Limpopo. He fled and remained at large for years before eventually being caught and sentenced to two life terms. I worked with Christine’s family. They waited years for justice. The NRSO exists. Ordinary South Africans cannot freely search it. #OpenTheRegister IC

  8442481841845K viewsView on X
• Oct 15, 20262.4x their median

  THIS IS PHETHE SARA SIMIAO. Six-year-old Amantle Samane was playing in Soweto when she was taken away. Simiao raped and murdered her. He pleaded guilty. On 1 September 2025, the Johannesburg High Court sentenced him to two life terms, one for rape and another for murder, with additional sentences for kidnapping and contravening the Immigration Act. Amantle was six years old. Her family will live with her absence for the rest of their lives. We know Amantle’s name. We should also know the name and face of the man convicted of raping and murdering her. South Africa needs lawful public access to verified information about convicted sexual offenders. Protect victims’ identities. Make established convictions accessible. #OpenTheRegister IC

  790401672631K viewsView on X

Ranked by total interactions across everything we have tracked for this account, which is a longer history than the 30-day window the rates above use. The multiple compares each post to this account's own median.

Keep going