GANG GETS AWAY WITH RAPE
Something bad always happen when young girls go out to a tavern when they shouldn’t. When these go out they get followed, get robbed or get raped and killed. The bad thing didn’t pass Noluvuyo Mazinyo; a 14 years old girl from Kwanoxolo in Port Elizabeth who got raped by a gang of five boys when she was walking home from a local tavern where she went to celebrate one of her friends’ birthday.
It was Sunday morning at 3am when Noluvuyo was walking home with her friends; whom she was celebrating with the previous night. The girls were walking home when they notice a group of 5 boys following them, as the young girls were walking fast the gang also walked fast. Noluvuyo and her friends didn’t run because they didn’t want the gang to see them that they saw them.
“We didn’t run because if we ran they would have seen that we saw that they are following us” said one of Noluvuyo’s friends Zintle. The Clique then vanished’ the girls didn’t see them anymore. The girls walked for 30 minutes; Noluvuyo’s friends got to their homes, Noluvuyo was walking alone when the gang just showed up in front of her; standing in the road, not allowing her to pass through. “They stood in front of me and when I tried to walk away; they would try to block me from going” she said. The gang talked to her asking where she was going,” they then asked me ‘where are you going?’ I told them I’m going home, they said ‘it’s still early, let’s have fun’ I told them I don’t want to”.
One of the boys came on to Noluvuyo; he then called the guys saying “come guys”. The other four came and then they started touching her body, telling her that she is beautiful and they raped her. “One of the boys came to me and looked at me and i stood there waiting on what he was going to do to me, he called on his friends and they came; when they arrived they were all high and smelled alcohol. They touched my body and they took me to some church we were next to; they opened the door, I tried screaming but one of them covered my mouth; I started crying knowing what they were going to do me. I begged them to stop but they didn’t, instead they raped me taking turns.” Noluvuyo was a virgin when all of this happened; the boys took her ‘ubuntombi’- as Noluvuyo puts it.
Noluvuyo was found by the church’s caretaker who woke her up, it was clear that she cried herself to sleep. “When I arrived to open up I found her sleeping there, and I waked her up. She got up and ran away I didn’t stop her to ask what was wrong” said the caretaker. Noluvuyo said she did not report the rape because she feared that the gang will come back for her and it will humiliate her family’s good name. Her mother Nomsimelelo wants her to report the rape; but her daughter doesn’t want to,” I told her Monday to go report it but she said she will not, because she fears that the boys will come after her” said the mother.
Detective Athenkosi Bhobho of KwaDwesi police station said a large number of rapes don’t get reported; and as the police they can’t do anything if no case has been opened. The police’s hands are tied in Noluvuyo’s case. “We can’t do anything because no case has been reported to us and the girl can’t be forced, unless her mother opens the case; because she has every right to do so as the girl is underage. But without any case reported to us, we can’t do any investigation” said the Detective. Noluvuyo’s case goes under the unreported rapes in S.A.
Below is an updated raw figure total of REPORTED sexual related crimes from the SAPS 2010 total Crime statistics , "REPORTED" as the majority of rapes go unreported. The SAPS say that it has decreased by 3.1% - however this decrease is not significant given the sheer numbers.
YEARS | NUMBER OF REPORTED RAPES |
2003/4 | 66 079 |
2004/5 | 69 117 |
2005/6 | 68 076 |
2006/7 | 65 201 |
2007/8 | 63 818 |
2008/9 | 70 514 |
2009/10 | 68 332 |
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FOLLOW UP
Justice finally served
It’s been three weeks since 14 year old Noluvuyo Mazinyo from Kwa Noxolo was found in a church by the caretaker; after she was raped and left alone by a gang of 5 boys the night before.
Noluvuyo never reported the rape to the police fearing that the gang might come back for and she didn’t want to humiliate her family’s good name. However her mother Nomsimelelo wanted her to report it, so she did something about it and reported the crime to the street committee in her section; which is section 4b. “I just couldn’t stay and let the boys get away with what they did to my daughter, I had to do something, I reported the matter to the street committee and they told me to wait for the whistle later on the day, so I can go to the meeting and tell the community about what happened” said Nomsimelelo.
They heard the whistle at about 5 pm and went to the base [where meetings are held]. When they arrived they were told to tell the community what happened and after Noluvuyo was done tears were falling down her face and the committee and community members were angry and since they knew the gang; they charged and went to look for them.
Mzoxolo Antony; chairman of the committee said they couldn’t just let the thugs just get away with it, they had to do something. “We had to go get them, ask them why they did it and what they achieved; here in Noxolo we deal with criminals ourselves then we call the police, we don’t lack of solutions.” They went and they found them in a shack; ‘Endlovini’, where they were all there. The thugs saw Noluvuyo and her mother, they grasped what the matter was and tried to run, but they were caught and took to the base, where they were cross examined by the community, they admitted to doing the crime and their parents were called to the meeting and when they arrived they were asked; what they think the community should do with their children; some say they should call the police on them, but one dad who was disgust by his son’s doing he said they should beat him up like they usually do to other criminals. One member of the executive suggested that the community should vote on what should they do to the thugs, surprisingly all the people voted that the boys should be beaten for what they did then call the police and hand them over.
They beat them then after they were done they called the police, Detective Athenkosi Bhobho was one of the police who was there to take them in. they were imprisoned and they are to appear in court in November. Noluvuyo is living a normal life, with no fear since the gang is jailed.
