Not In My Name Condemns Murder of St Stithians Pupil Cameron Waldeck-Crooks
- Rights movement Not In My Name called on all South Africans to condemn the killing of 17-year-old St Stithians pupil Cameron Waldeck-Crooks
- Police confirmed Waldeck-Crooks was strangled and found at a Sabie lodge alongside 19-year-old Ethan Coetzee, who died by suicide
- Organisation spokesperson Boitumelo Thage challenged media coverage of GBV, raising questions about race and who is seen as a victim
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Rights and social justice organisation Not In My Name has urged South Africans to condemn the killing of 17-year-old St Stithians College pupil Cameron Waldeck-Crooks, while calling for a broader conversation about gender-based violence (GBV).
Waldeck-Crooks, a Grade 11 learner at the Johannesburg school, was found dead at a lodge in Sabie, Mpumalanga, alongside 19-year-old former St Stithians pupil Ethan Coetzee.
Police confirmed on Friday, 8 August 2026, that Waldeck-Crooks had died from strangulation. Coetzee was found dead at the same lodge, and police said he had died by suicide.
Not In My Name condemns GBV
Not In My Name said South Africa's response to GBV needed to move beyond conversations centred exclusively on women.
The organisation acknowledged that women and girls continue to experience a disproportionate share of gender-based violence, but argued that prevention efforts would remain incomplete without directly involving men and boys.
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Its spokesperson, Boitumelo Thage, said young men and boys needed spaces where they could have honest conversations about masculinity, patriarchy and behaviours that contribute to violence. According to Thage, such spaces should not simply be used to educate men and boys about harmful gender norms. They should also allow them to openly examine and challenge those ideas themselves.
Organisation questions race in GBV reporting
Not In My Name also used the case to raise broader questions about how GBV is portrayed in South African media. Thage questioned whether the country's public understanding of GBV adequately reflects the experiences of white victims and perpetrators, arguing that violence cannot be understood through race alone.
She said the organisation was not seeking to diminish the pain experienced by any family or community. Instead, it wanted South Africans to examine whether assumptions about race influence perceptions of who is regarded as a victim or perpetrator of GBV.
Thage argued that confronting the country's GBV crisis honestly requires society to recognise that gender-based violence cuts across racial and social boundaries.
Ethan Coetzee's family breaks silence
Briefly News previously reported The family of Ethan Coetzee broke their silence after preliminary post-mortem findings linked him to Cameron Waldeck-Cook's death
Cameron's brother Ethan publicly accused his sister's partner of murder in an emotional Instagram post
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Source: Briefly News
