Anti-Corruption Movement is calling for justice to be served in a case against a 24-year-old-man who allegedly raped a 13-year-old victim in Mogwase near Sun City in the North West.
The case against the alleged perpetrator was disregarded without trace and the victim’s mother openly confronted the mother of her daughter’s alleged perpetrator, during a recent GBVF march in the area.
In a widely shared disturbing video, the victim’s mother can be heard confronting the alleged perpetrator’s mother during the march.
“She had no concern to become an organiser of GBVF when she allowed her own child to violate my child. In her defence she told me that she has connections within the Mogwase Magistrate’s Court. My 13-year-old daughter was raped by her son. You’re not going to tell me about GBVF when this woman kept on laughing at my wound, she kept on laughing at us in court,” said the victim’s mother in the video.
The mother (whose name is withheld to protect her daughter’s identity) has also accused the local magistrate’s court and the police of corruption in the matter.
Speaking on YOU FM Newshour, the Chairperson of the Moses Kotane Anti-Corruption Movement, Masego Tselapedi, said that the alleged perpetrator’s mother made mockery of the victim’s mother and went on to boast about how her son is untouchable and will never be arrested.
“We can protest, we can do everything, but even if someone is an enabler that person must be held accountable no matter what. What makes matters worse in this case is that the mother of the accused was leading from the front, knowing very well what her son was doing out there,” said Tselapedi.
According to Tselapedi, the confrontation highlighted several concerns within the local justice system and the SAPS. “This incident highlights the deep-seated issues of corruption and abuse of power within the Mogwase Magistrates Court and the SAPS. We were sad to hear this because we know about the brown envelopes, we know about the influence people have especially when it comes to high profile cases. But when it comes to a case like this of GBVF of a 13-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted it was very painful for us to hear a mother speaking like that and for that video to go viral like that we wouldn’t have known about the incident,” explained Tselapedi.
The movement embarked on a peaceful march outside the Mogwase Magistrate’s Court on Monday, in support of the mother and her daughter. “The actual march is planned for December 4th in Mogwase where we will hand over a memorandum of demands firstly to the National Director of Public Prosecutions to intervene and ensure justice is served. Our memorandum is also directed at the Independent Police Investigative Directorate to investigate the alleged misconduct by members of the SAPS. The Public Protector will also be requested to investigate corruption and abuse of power within the Mogwase Magistrates court and the SAPS. Hopefully even the Legal Practitioner’s Council can assist us in investigating corrupt legal practitioners at the court,” said the Chairperson.
The movement has undertaken to continue to fight corruption and abuse of power, demanding justice for the victim and her family. “We will continue to fight for accountability and transparency in our institutions. We are aware of the Madlanga Commission that the SAPS and Judicial system is rotten, we will not be stopped, and we will fight for ourselves, our sisters, our brothers failed by the system. We call upon everyone to get in the streets and march to Mogwase SAPS on December 4,” said Tselapedi.
