Five-year-old Limpopo girl, Mahloko*, is epileptic and mentally disturbed. That didn’t stop her from being raped last week Wednesday.
A 27-year-old man, who has been arrested for another rape case, has been charged for Mahloko’s alleged rape.
This comes as the nation was is still reeling from the news that another Limpopo girl Dikeledi*, 5, was raped by three different men since she was three years old.
Both girls are Grade R pupils in the same school, and they come from Mmamatsha village, in the Ga-Molepo area outside Polokwane. The two girls were raped at the same time, at a rocky outcrop, on their way home from school. Their five-year-old classmatemanaged to escape.
However, she did not tell her parents that her friends were raped, until Monday.
That same day Mahloko’s mother took her to Mankweng hospital, where it was confirmed she had been penetrated.
Mankweng police spokesman Constable Moses Molepo said, “The doctors confirmed that she has been raped.”
He said said the man accused of raping Dikeledi last week, was the prime suspect.
“We identified him as the suspect because the modus operandi was the same,” said Molepo.
The suspect will appear in the Mankweng Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on two counts of rape.
Last week Friday he appeared in the same court for Dikeledi‘s rape and his case was postponed to August 26.
The Star reported on Monday that Dekeledi had been raped by three different men since the age of three.
She was first raped in 2010 while under the care of her 13-year-old aunt.
A 27-year-old man was arrested and charged with rape.
The charges were provisionally withdrawn last month because 2010 DNA test results and a social worker’s report were still outstanding.
Last month, the little girl was raped again, and a 26-year-old man was arrested. And last week Wednesday, three weeks after the second rape, Dikeledi was raped for the third time. The 26-year-old suspect was arrested. Both suspects remain in custody.
The Limpopo Social Development department has relocated Dikeledi to a Polokwane shelter.
Her mother said her daughter had nightmares.
Mahloko’s mother said she hoped “this man goes to jail for life, our children should not become slaves.”
Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale described the attacks as “heinous” and said, “We cannot continue to live in a society where the rights of children to safety and security are continuously being violated”.
The DA visited Dikeledi’s family on Monday and the party has also called on Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa to personally intervene in the matter.
“We will correspond directly with Minister Nathi Mthethwa about why it is taking such a long time to release these DNA results,” said Desiree van der Walt, DA member of the provincial legislature.
The DA promised to picket outside the court every time one of the suspects appear.
The Davidson ICARE Foundation, a non-governmental organisation has pledged books, toys and clothes for Dikeledi.
Limpopo Social Development Department spokesman Phuti Seloba said they were aware of the latest rape incident.
He said social workers would embark on an awareness campaign in the village and at schools to highlight the problem.
“We may be sitting on a time bomb whereby a lot of young people have been raped and they are too scared to speak out about it,” said Seloba.
*(Not their real names)
The Star