The father of an 11 year old girl who was allegedly raped by a youth, is demanding justice after the suspect has remained free and continues to go to school while the case is being dealt with under the new Child Justice Act.
The father of an 11 year old girl who was allegedly raped by a youth, is demanding justice after the suspect has remained free and continues to go to school while the case is being dealt with under the new Child Justice Act.
“He was waiting there. He was only wearing trousers. He didn’t wear shoes, he didn’t wear a shirt. He only had a tie… When she goes past him, he took the tie and bound her on the neck, and dragged her, and goes and rapes her,” said James Mzanzi.*
This was how Mzanzi described the tactics of the 14-year-old boy suspected of raping his 11-year-old daughter on her way home from school.
It has been three weeks since the alleged rape took place and Mzanzi has not heard from the police. The suspect continues to attend Mary Waters High School half a kilometre away from where the incident took place.
“You see how clever he was,” Mzanzi said, when he showed Grocott’s Mail reporters the ambush spot. “He knew exactly what he was doing.”
Mzanzi said the boy put his fingers in his daughter’s mouth to stop her from screaming and dragged her into a hole in the nearby hillside.
“My child was devastated, she came naked naked, naked to our home. He took all her clothes. The schoolbag we found [a week later]at the back of Mary Waters High School. Found it there. Even the clothes: We found them ourselves. We found them ourselves.”
“They did take him to court, and we didn’t hear nothing from anyone; how the court is going, when is the next day, that stuff,” said Mzanzi. “So I want to know, what are we going to do in a situation like this, because if that boytjie goes back to school and my child recognises him, maybe he can get some of his friends and kill my child? She’s in danger now.”
Police spokesperson Bennie Butler said the police “absolutely” have to contact the family involved in a rape case, and that in this case it is the responsibility of the investigating officer, Warrant Officer Ronel Botha.
When contacted, Botha made no comment on her failure to contact the family, saying: “[The suspect] is going through the procedures of the new Child Act.
That is all we are willing to say at this time.” The Child Justice Act, which came into effect in April, aims to create “the possibility of diverting matters involving children who have committed offences away from the criminal justice system” and places an “increased emphasis on the effective rehabilitation and reintegration of children in order to minimise the potential for re-offending.”
New procedures for keeping children away from offenders include victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing, referral to an NGO or other community or social programme and conditional or unconditional release.
“We want to make a petition to ask what is going to happen with that boytjie, because we don’t want him at the school anymore,” said Mzanzi, “I want people to protest, to help me, to stand with me on this thing, because it can happen with any other person’s child. That’s why I came to Grocott’s today to ask for the community to help me to protest, if they have reinstated that boy.”
The principal of Mary Waters High School, Samuel Wessels said they also “haven’t received any information [from the police.]There’s been no follow up”.
Wessels said that the school cannot take action until the police investigation has been concluded and only the Department of Education can authorise an expulsion.
Nstikelelo Vazi, the Director of Institutional Development at the Department of Education says: “There has to be a disciplinary hearing if the learner is in conflict with the law.
A recommendation based on the evidence then has to be given by the Head of Department to expel the student.” Mzanzi claims that: “It’s not the first time he has hit a ladychild. There was a case at the location township, they took him away and they took him here to Mary Waters High School.”
However Wessels said that he does not know of any prior incidents and to his knowledge, the learner was not transferred from another school. “We don’t have any disciplinary issues with the learner,” he said.
“He’s lying,” repeated Mzanzi, “[The suspect] likes to beat them ladychildren. He’s not talking the truth… I don’t know why they defend him.”
“It’s daylight when they do things to our children like that,” said the grandmother of the 11-year-old, Ayanda Mzanzi.*
“If I could get that child in my hands, I would murder him.” She said the police told her that it was her responsibility to look for her grandchild’s clothes, which she found under a rock in the cavern. “Her face, I will never forget her face,” the old woman said.
“I told her that it wasn’t her fault. It was the wrong place, wrong time, when the devil was there.” If you wish to participate in the petition, please contact Mr Mzanzi* on 0719354593.
*These names have been changed in order to protect the identity of the children involved.
