By Norman Joseph
An 11-year-old primary school pupil who was raped last year but kept her ordeal a secret until a month ago, has given birth to a baby boy.
The baby was born in Tygerberg Hospital on Thursday.
The family of the the girl, who lives in Bishop Lavis, have decided to give up the boy for adoption.
A senior security officer has been arrested in connection with rape and will appear in the Bishop Lavis magistrate's court on Monday.
The girl left the hospital on Friday without the baby, but has asked to see him once a month.
The double trauma of the rape and the subsequent birth has shocked the family.
Both the child and her family are set to receive counselling from today.
The girl, who is in Grade 6, turns 12 in October.
She lives with her father and grandmother in Valhalla Park.
But she did not tell them or anyone else about the rape last November in Langa.
She continued to attend school until the end of term last month, with her family still unaware that she was pregnant.
When the Cape Argus visited the girl in hospital on Friday, she was frail, shy and withdrawn, but managed a smile.
She was dressed in a gown and a pink hooded top and sought comfort under her grandmother's arm.
Asked her about her wellbeing, she answered softly: "I'm fine and I'm looking forward to some rest at home."
The nurses on duty were protective of her as people gathered around and craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the pre-teen mother as she walked down the long corridor to a waiting car.
Nurses assured her that social workers would visit on a regular basis and said a relative would collect her medication on Friday.
When asked what was the first thing she would wanted when she got home, she replied: "A good lunch and some sleep."
Her grandmother said on Sunday that in June a neighbour had pointed out that the girl looked pregnant.
"I took a urine sample to the local chemist and had it tested. It was positive," the grandmother said.
The girl's father told the Cape Argus that he was "heart-broken and upset" and described the perpetrator who raped his daughter as being "worse than a monster".
"Her pregnancy has affected her school work, and I'm in the process of having her transferred to another school as we fear she will be victimised and teased by her schoolmates.
"This would have been her second last year at primary school.
"We need to come to terms with this now and start a new life," her father said.
Fighting back tears, he said they had been forced to give up the baby for adoption.
"How can a child look after a child?" he asked.
Approached for comment, a prominent medical doctor, Yusuf Noor, said it was "very traumatic. It will stay with her for the rest of her life".
"Depending on the size of her pelvis, womb and other parts of her body, she may not be able to give birth normally again and she may have complications.
"However, it depends on the treatment given to her before the birth by a gynaecologist.
"The greatest problem will be a psychological one. It is very traumatic to give birth at that age," Noor said.
Her grandmother said: "I hope the counselling programme and sessions are completed before she is summoned to testify in court."
The 48-year-old security officer who will appear in court today is a former neighbour and a family friend.
The girl was raped near the Langa power station, according to the charge sheet.
The arrested man is already in custody facing a charge of attempting to murder his former wife. He allegedly shot and wounded her in the parking area of a church in Eastlake Island Drive, Marina da Gama, on January 20.
He is due to appear in the Wynberg regional court on July 23.