Zukile Majova
A 12-year-old primary school girl who escaped repeated rape by her stepfather in Johannesburg, has fallen victim to another rapist – her grandfather.
This has angered dozens of villagers from Goso and Sugar Bush, near Mount Ayliff in the Eastern Cape, who marched to the local Magistrates Court on Monday.
Indunas, amakhosi, learners, parents and other stakeholders in the community protested for the magistrate to reject the bail application of the 55-year-old alleged rapist.
Thando moved to Johannesburg to be with her aunt, who became her guardian when her mother died.
But she found no sanctuary there. Her aunt’s husband started sexually harassing her when her aunt was away.
This later developed into rape.
In the same year, her grandmother moved her to live with her in a safe home in Goso village, where her mother had grown up.
But her grandmother’s brother, who had also who promised to love and care for the little girl, took advantage of her vulnerability and started raping her at night.
This went on for a while until her class teacher, Miss Khumalo, started noticing that she was not playing with other learners at break time.
Miss Khumalo then noticed that Thando was walking with a limp but was too afraid to speak out. Eventually, she opened up to her.
Councillor Florida Ngonyolo, the speaker of Umzimvubu Local Municipality, said the incident had angered the community.
“Just a few weeks ago we were launching the Men’s Forum here in Umzimvubu, speaking against violence against women and children.
“The Men’s Forum is now here with us fighting against men who soil the reputation of good men in our communities.
“We are going to be meeting as women to engage further with men in our villages to root out the evil ones.”
