Sifiso Khoza is one of the unfortunate few in South Africa today. Already on trial for sexual assault against five primary school students, the suspended teacher will on Friday seek bail in a branch court in Soweto after being arrested again last Friday on a new charge of rape.
Most perpetrators of sex crimes are never arrested and only 7,7% of reported rape cases end in conviction.
Unlike the previous incidents involving Khoza, the latest charge was handled with the efficiency that medical experts say must attend all cases of sexual assault.
Khoza was arrested on November 8 by the Soweto child protection unit. The parents of the alleged victim say Khoza had repeatedly raped the girl since February 2000 — the period corresponding to his alleged misconduct at the primary school.
The police were alerted on November 2; the girl was medically examined the next day.
Khoza, the subject of a report in the Mail & Guardian last week [”Falling through the cracks”], was arrested on August 10 last year. The teacher faces one charge of rape and five of indecent assault. Had the earlier incidents at the school been handled with due urgency by the arresting police and school officials, Khoza, who was out on bail after spending roughly a year behind bars while the schoolgirls testified against him, might never have been able to resume his alleged abuse of the other child.
A month-long investigation by this newspaper revealed a pattern of complacency and possible misconduct on the part of those most responsible for collecting evidence in the matter and ensuring the protection of the children. Neither the school principal nor the arresting officers, however, seem likely to face internal investigations by their departments into their conduct.
Sam Mthembi, principal of Mayibuye school, admits he knew about the specific allegations against Khoza two days before he called the police. That was a critical window of time in which forensic evidence would almost certainly have been lost.
At least two teachers at the school, Bongi Phakathi and Busi Shai, say Mthembi had acknowledged on at least two occasions after the crisis at his school broke open that he had reason to suspect Khoza was acting inappropriately. But he did nothing.
The Child Care Act states that anyone who has custody of a child and allows the child to be ill-treated can be held criminally liable.
If a teacher or school administrator ”is found to have knowledge about a colleague’s sexual misconduct and remains silent, he or she would be guilty of violating our code of ethics”, said Glenn Abrahams, chairperson of the South African Council of Educators.
The M&G was unable to ascertain whether an internal probe would be conducted to determine whether the Doornkop police station erred by failing to have students involved in the alleged rape charges against Khoza properly medically examined or if it failed to conduct a forensic examination of Khoza’s office, where the incidents allegedly occurred.