North West Premier Popo Molefe’s recently divorced wife has gone public with accusations that her former husband sexually molested a pre-teen relative.
Police have investigated, but judicial authorities declined to prosecute for “lack of sufficient evidence”.
The girl was living with the Molefe family at the time of the alleged incident last year.
To protect the girl’s identity the Mail & Guardian cannot disclose how she is related to the premier.
The allegations have caused waves within the African National Congress and the North West political establishment. Senior officials, including ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe and provincial MEC for Health Molefi Sefularo, are said to have been drawn into the matter.
Molefe declined to comment and did not give reasons for his refusal. Molefe’s former wife, Tumi Plaatje-Molefe, responded: “I am not surprised that he does not want to comment. He knows what he did to that child and he knows that the truth will finally come out.”
Plaatje-Molefe this week said she would not rest until the allegations against Molefe were tested in court — and that she intended to launch a private prosecution against her former husband.
“I have been in the forefront against child abuse in this province. I led a successful march after the Baby Tshepang incident and I intend to take this matter up at any cost, even if it means losing everything. I will not rest until the truth about this case goes to court and I am prepared to go to jail for it,” she said.
The couple’s marriage ended last month after a protracted court battle in the Mafikeng High Court. Divorce proceedings started last April after the couple agreed to terminate the marriage.
In the weeks around the start of the divorce proceedings, extraordinary events unfolded away from the public eye. These included the axing of Molefe’s domestic worker after the same girl alleged that the domestic had molested her. The child’s allegations against Molefe came later.
The M&G has a report, dated August 2002, from the Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children in Johannesburg, which did a medical examination and what it calls a “forensic assessment” on the child some months after the alleged abuse.
The report says the results of the medical examination were “consistent with sexual abuse” and it also records the child’s allegation that Molefe was responsible. The report claims that, on an expert therapist’s assessment, the child’s allegation is credible.
The clinic’s report did not form part of the police investigation as it was compiled after prosecuting authorities had dropped the case. The child was referred to the clinic by prominent doctor Precious Moloi of the Women’s Clinic in Johannesburg.
The domestic worker, Johanna Leboa, was the first to be probed by North West police, on allegations that she had inserted her finger into the girl’s vagina. The child and Plaatje-Molefe made statements to the police last April about the alleged incident.
In May, the child and Plaatje-Molefe also made additional statements relating to the child’s allegations against Molefe. The statements were made after Molefe and Plaatje-Molefe separated.
In June, Leboa died after a short illness. Leboa’s younger sister, Ellen Leboa, this week said the cause of death was unknown.
Plaatje-Molefe this week charged that police did not investigate the child’s allegations properly because of political interference.
She claimed that the police did nothing after taking her statement and that of the child in relation to the allegations against Molefe. She also claimed that Molefe defended Leboa when the child first revealed the allegations against the domestic.
She said Molefe’s law firm, which represented him in the divorce case, was the same one used by Leboa. She claimed that Molefe rejected a police-commissioned medical report done immediately after the child alleged that the domestic had molested her. The medical report said that an object had been inserted in the child’s vagina.
Police, said Plaatje-Molefe, were forced to commission two further medical reports after Molefe rejected the first one. She claimed that Molefe had asked Sefularo to find a specialist to examine the child. Two additional examinations were done, and their results contradicted each other. While one concurred with the initial report in saying that that the child’s hymen was not intact, the other one said the child’s hymen was intact.
The M&G is in possession of the reports. The first was done on April 19 and the other two were on April 26. The doctor who differed with the other two medical practitioners is PC Scott, who maintained in his report there was “no sign” of sexual abuse. He added: “I do not dispute that the child was molested, but there was no penetration.”
The Teddy Bear Clinic report is dated August 7, about a month after the provincial director of public prosecutions, Johan Smit, made his decision not to prosecute. In a letter to the police, Smit said he would not pursue the case against Leboa because she had died, and that he declined to prosecute Molefe for “lack of sufficient evidence”.
The Teddy Bear Clinic report, compiled by a therapist specifically qualified in child abuse, does not deal with allegations the child initially made against Leboa.
The report quotes the child as saying: “I went to sleep with [Molefe] because I was scared as I was watching horror movies and [Plaatje-Molefe] was not home as she was in a meeting. Molefe agreed that I could sleep with him and then I asked him for a sleeping tablet, which stays in the bathroom cabinet, and [Molefe] agreed and gave it to me.
“I had a blue nightdress on, a summer one which had squirrels on it … I went to sleep and then he raped me.”
The therapist, the report said, asked the girl what she meant by rape and she explained that “he came on to me, he had green pyjamas, shorty pyjamas with short trousers, I think his pyjamas were off, I saw his head to his waist. I felt his weight on me. I was a little bit awake but feeling very sleepy and tight on my eyes but I could still see his face, because there was light coming in from the passage through the top of the door and then he hurt me, but I cannot remember anything else.
“I went to [Plaatje-Molefe’s] bathroom where she was having a bath the next morning. White milky stuff was coming out on my panty from my vagina and [Plaatje-Molefe] gave me medicine because she thought that I was sick. Later that day, when [Molefe] came home, he told me not to tell anyone what he did to me and this was before we sat down to eat. I asked him if he’ll kill me and he said he won’t kill me.”
The report says the girl stated that this happened only once.
“She did not report immediately … because she was afraid to tell [anyone]. This is typical of children who take on responsibility for everything that has happened to them; they feel that it is their fault and they must be bad, therefore it has happened to them.”
The report also says that, based on the therapist’s assessment, the child “does not have the mental capacity to be devious and has not displayed any reason to lie”. The report said the child was not coerced into cooperating during interviews.
“The therapist remained objective at all times and did not direct the child in her responses.”
The report says the child presented as a very shy person and did not engage herself immediately with the therapist.
“She cooperated when the tests were administered and answered the therapist’s questions with some discomfort. The child displayed discomfort and shame around the discussion of the sexual abuse,” the report says.
Plaatje-Molefe said she approached Motlanthe in December last year after she learned that Molefe had presented his side of the story to the ANC. She said she wanted the ANC to know her version.
“I heard from a senior ANC official who is a lawyer that Molefe has been going around telling people that I was bitter and that I was spreading allegations against him. I went to see comrade Motlanthe in order to clear my name,” she said.