Sexual abuse, rape and unwanted pregnancy are robbing young girls of an education and a future
HORRIFIC stories of child abuse have surfaced in Driefontein, a community in Mpumalanga that made headlines during the apartheid era when residents refused to be moved to a black area.
Driefontein has now become a village of shame. A clandestine war is on against its children — especially young schoolgirls. In the past six months the local clinic has recorded more than 20 cases of abuse and rape among learners at eight schools. Nurses and social workers say the major difficulty in fighting this problem is that residents and families of the victims do not want to talk.
”More cases are reported to us than to the police,” says Mary-Jane Radebe, the matron at the local hospital. ”Many parents, especially mothers, do not want to involve the police. The moment you advise them to lay a charge, you’ve chased them away and they never return to the clinic.”
Radebe adds, ”Most victims are pupils ranging from eight to 14 years of age. And the alleged rapist is usually a biological father, a stepfather or an uncle.” In one instance a 60-year-old man impregnated his 13-year-old granddaughter. A charge was never laid with the police because family members wanted to ”resolve” the matter on their own.
She says ”most children are forced to continue living with their abusers because there is no place of safety,” adding that this ”is the most worrying factor, because child abuse is an act of a sick mind and it is addictive. It is likely that these children might be abused again by the same person.”
The two policemen stationed in Driefontein struggle to investigate all these cases because they service a community of more than 100 000. The nearest bigger police station, Dirkiesdorp, is 60km away. Even if victims do report crimes to the police, there is usually no vehicle to pick the suspects up with.
Last year two 11-year-old girls from Malibongwe Primary were raped by a man who stays half a kilometre from the police station, but he has never been arrested. Police Inspector Mduduzi Ndlangamandla says that even in cases where this man has been arrested on other charges, he gets acquitted in mysterious ways. ”Some people believe it is because his father is an inyanga. He uses muti to shield him from arrest,” said Ndlangamandla.
Rennie Banda, a teacher, says, ”The rape of these two girls became public knowledge as on that day the alleged rapist saw a group of more than 10 girls from Malibongwe Primary playing next to his house. He then called them into his house and told the others to wait outside while he brutally raped two of the girls.” The man has allegedly raped a number of young girls and is often seen loitering around the local tavern opposite the police station.
On the bumpy road into Driefontein lies the home of another alleged child rapist. He is suspected of raping his girlfriend’s child, among others. He was never arrested for those incidents, but is now in prison for another child rape.
Across the road from the police station is the home of Yunus Cajee, the only Indian resident of Driefontein. Cajee is one of four African National Congress councillors in the area. One of his employees, a Mozambiquen who is working here illegally, was arrested and charged with raping a nine-year-old. The case vanished and the man is back at work. People believe it is so because he works for a big shot in the area.
Another man is awaiting trial for allegedly raping and impregnating his 14-year-old stepdaughter. The problem was only spotted two months ago, after the child left school and ran away to her grandmother’s place. The grandmother noticed that she walked strangely. ”She told me her father had infected her with a sore,” says the grandmother. ”I took her to the nurses and they found that she was not just pregnant but also had a sexually transmitted disease.” The nurses also told the family to lay a charge against the stepfather but the child’s mother refused. The suspect was only arrested after he threatened to kill the grandmother if she did not stop interfering in his domestic affairs.
An eight-year-old from Heyshope Primary was allegedly raped on several occasions by her 40-year-old uncle. Nurses advised her mother to lay a charge, but the police have no record of one. The girl’s mother caught the uncle raping her. The girl burnt her hands badly when she clung to a burning coal stove trying to run away from him.
In another case last year, a father was arrested for raping his 11-year-old daughter, who is now in grade 8 at Qedela Secondary, also in Driefontein. The man was released on free bail and he later committed suicide. His daughter has been threatened by family members who blame her for the suicide.
Teachers say child abuse and rape in Driefontein have reached crisis level ”and is having a bad effect on learners and our teaching”, notes S’busiso Malaza, a teacher at Cabangani. ”That is why, now, I have invited my children to share any of their worries with me, not just about schoolwork. Hence the girl whose father committed suicide told me [about her rape] before she could tell her mother.” Malaza adds that since then the dead man’s family has been threatening her.
On the western side of Driefontein is Donkerhoek farm school, which was closed in March this year. All four teachers allegedly fled Donkerhoek after a group of boys attacked, robbed and gangraped three female teachers at the school. One teacher was shot and wounded because she resisted.
The Dirkiesdorp police said close to 100 rape and child abuse cases were reported in the past two years. So far there are 17 alleged rapists waiting trial at Dirkiesdorp, all from Driefontein. ”But there are also problems with the victims,” notes Ndlangamandla. ”Most victims are too young. This year, at daylight, a stranger raped a nine-year-old. Because the child is so young and traumatised, she can’t describe or identify her rapist.”
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, July 26, 2000.
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