“Had I been wearing only underwear they would probably have raped me over and over again. That’s how disgusting they were.”
These were the words of the young woman who has become known as the Noord taxi rank victim Nomthandazo, 18, whose surname has been withheld to protect her identity.
Wearing a sleeveless black mini dress with matching strap sandals, the Grade 12 pupil told the Pretoria News this week that she and her friend Zama, 19, were still disturbed about the incident on December 30 when they were groped and harassed by a group of howling and salivating men near the infamous taxi rank.
“Everything happened so fast. There were many of them. They chanted songs and laughed while taking pictures of us with their cellphones,” Nomthandazo said.
“I asked them what their problem was but none of them answered. They just kept following us. We still don’t understand what got them so excited. Many women wear short skirts in the CBD,” she said.
Nomthandazo said she and Zama were going from one store to another looking for a dress when the incident took place.
No sooner had they stepped out of a shop, than they were greeted by a group of 60 or 70 men.
“They followed us. We couldn’t make out what they were singing. But I could see what their intentions were,” Nomthandazo said.
Nomthandazo said one of the men pulled down Zama’s shirt, exposing her bra. “She (Zama) pulled it back up but another one pulled it down again while taunting her,” she said.
While the other men harassed Zama, the others groped Nomthandazo. “They wanted to pull my dress up but I fought back. I wasn’t going to let them win,” she said.
She and Zama later ran into a shop to buy tights but couldn’t find them.
She said the men continued to follow them but were prevented by the shop owner from coming in. “They howled at us and looked through the shop’s windows. They seemed mad.”
The teenagers were eventually rescued by the metro police.
The police said they were still investigating and that no arrests had been made. - Pretoria Weekend