Johannesburg - Are minors safe in South Africa? The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has reported five cases of children and teenagers being raped, and rapists being sentenced, in the last month alone.
The most recent sentence was for a stepfather who was raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter.
According to NPA regional spokesperson in Mpumalanga, Monica Nyuswa, the Secunda Regional Court convicted and sentenced a fifty-two-year-old man from Embalenhle to life imprisonment for repeatedly raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter.
According to Nyuswa, the accused and the victim’s guardian were in a love relationship and lived together as a family in Embalenhle. During the period between 2020 and 2021, the accused would wait for the victim’s guardian to leave for work, and then rape the victim.
"This happened until 2021; the victim had a stomach ache at school and informed her teacher, who released her to go home; however, the victim refused to go home and indicated that she was afraid of being raped by her stepfather when she was home. The teacher reported the matter to the victim’s guardian, and the police were alerted," said Nyuswa.
Last week, again in Mpumalanga, the Emalahleni Regional Court convicted and sentenced Tshepo Veli Mazibuko, 30, from Phola, to life imprisonment for the rape of a minor aged 9 years old in 2017.
Nyuswa said that Mazibuko was a family friend of the victim, and on the day of the incident, the accused invited the victim and her younger brother under the pretext that they were going to attend his child’s party at his residence.
"The accused went to pick them up from their homestead. Upon their arrival at the party, the accused dropped off the victim’s younger brother and requested that the victim accompany him to buy drinks at the shop. Along the way, the accused drove with the victim in a different direction, stopped the vehicle next to a shack near the bushes, and asked the victim to go with him inside. The accused locked the door, undressed the victim, and raped her; he then threatened to kill her if she reported the crime and drove back to pick up the younger brother and drop them at their homestead," said Nyuswa.
In another sentencing at the Pongola Magistrate’s Court, a 32-year-old man was charged with the rape of two minor children.
Meanwhile, the Verulam Regional Court sentenced a 46-year-old man to life and five years’ imprisonment for the rape and attempted murder of a 5-year-old child in the Umhlasini area in 2021.
"The child, who was 5 years old at the time, had gone to live with her granny. The man, who is HIV-positive and aware of his status, was the granny’s partner, and they shared a child. The man raped the child on several occasions (when the granny was either asleep or out of the house running errands) and threatened to kill her if she told anyone," said an NPA statement.
The Star