- Residents of Makhaza in Khayelitsha want justice for a girl aged 12 who is seven months pregnant and was allegedly raped.
- Police have arrested a 36-year-old man, who will appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court, and social development officials say families can get support to care for a child.
Residents of Makhaza in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, are demanding justice for a girl aged 12 who is seven months pregnant.
Police have arrested a 36-year-old man on a rape charge. Western Cape police spokesperson Thembakazi Mpendukana said a case was opened at the Makhaza police station and the man will appear in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court.
The girl was allegedly raped by the partner of the woman who was looking after her.
The woman said she took the girl in after a relative asked for a place for her to sleep, and later let her stay on.
She said she noticed changes in the girl’s body and told a relative. They suspected the girl was pregnant and took her to the police station. There, the girl said the man had been raping her while the woman was at work.
The woman said she was shocked, angry and disappointed. She said the man is the father of her child, and “has destroyed the child’s future”. She hopes the system will not fail the girl.
Community leader Amandile Dawo said residents do not want the man back in the area. He said the community must protect other children.
Esther Lewis, a spokesperson for the Department of Social Development, said families can agree among themselves to care for a child without social workers or the children’s court. But a formal process is needed if social workers remove a child and start a child protection investigation.
Caregivers who want a kinship care grant from Sassa can ask a social worker to assess the child’s situation, she said.
Lewis said social workers at the department and at child protection organisations can give counselling and other support to abused children. The department received 2,427 reports of sexual abuse across the province.
