Thapelo Makutle, a 23-year-old trans and gay-identifying man and pageant queen who was recently crowned Miss Gay Kuruman (a city in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, where he lived) and volunteered at the local LGBT rights organization (LEGBO), was murdered and beheaded by two men over his sexuality on Friday.
South Africa's Mamba Online reports:
According to the group Legbo Northern Cape, Thapelo Makutle was attacked at his place of work in the John Taolo Gaetsewe district on Friday. The organisation said that there was an argument related to "his sexuality and homosexuality".
His two attackers are believed to have followed him to the room where he lived and on Saturday cut his throat, decapitating him. They left his body under a blanket as though he were sleeping.
No arrests have been made in connection with the murder.
Said Shaine Griqua, director of Legbo Northern Cape, to Mambaonline: "It's so sad. I can't describe the pain that we are feeling right now. We have lost a young, talented, gay man who was open about who he was. The last few days have been like a dark cloud."
