Johannesburg - News of the 14-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually groomed by suspended Emfuleni mayor Simon Mofokeng came as an arrow that pierced through the heart of Ntombi*.
Hearing her friends and colleagues talk about his alleged sexual predation after he accidentally sent semi-nude pictures of the girl to a WhatsApp group was too painful, reawakening memories of her own encounter with him.
“When I heard about the 14-year-old girl, I just wanted to cry. It brought all the pain,” said Ntombi, who was also 14 and in her last days of Grade 7 when Mofokeng seduced her by splurging money on her.
““I never enjoyed my childhood. He has killed me,” said Ntombi.
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Now 28, she is just one of several young girls who Mofokeng allegedly preyed on. The Saturday Star has reliably learnt that there are two other young girls who fell victim to his advances.
He has allegedly secured a job for one of the mothers of one of the girls in a Gauteng municipality to buy her silence.
This week, Mofokeng was placed on special leave pending an investigation.
Recounting her first encounter with Mofokeng, Ntombi said she was accompanying her friends to a taxi rank in a township in the Vaal, and was walking home alone when a silver grey Toyota Tazz screeched to a halt in front of her.
The man behind the wheel pretended to ask for directions. “It was on December 9 2004. He asked me where I lived, and how he could connect with me because I told him I didn’t have a (cell)phone.
“He said I should wait for him on the same spot the following day at about the same time, and we would go to a party.”
Young and naive, she obliged. “I waited for him, and he came. We went to the party, and I later asked him to take me to another party where my friend was, which he did.”
That proved a moment that heralded her path to near destruction. “The following day, we met again. He liked taking me to pubs, nightclubs and stuff. That’s how I started drinking (alcohol), and sometimes I would be drunk too much. I didn’t even know what I was having.”
He would take her to guest houses in Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging, she said. “Sometimes he would sleep with me in the car. I would cry, but he would not stop. He would give me money, sometimes R500 or R1000.”
Often, as she spoke, she broke down and cried. “The thing I was doing, I didn’t understand it. But I had the feeling it wasn’t something I wanted. I would cry.”
She recounted the moment Mofokeng discovered she was pregnant. “We were at a hotel in Vanderbijlpark. He bought me alcohol. Then he saw me undressing and told me I looked pregnant,” she said. She was three months pregnant.
Her child was born in 2006, two years after she met Mofokeng, and the year he became the mayor.
“He started accusing me of seeing boyfriends. He said ‘it’s your boyfriends (responsible for the pregnancy)’. I asked for money for an abortion but he didn’t give me (any). When I gave birth, he started threatening me whenever I asked for money. I had to fight him, and threaten him.
“He would say, ‘I’m only giving you the money because we had something together’. He said our romance was ended by my friends’ gossip, and that I was spending his money on alcohol and neglecting the child.”
As time went on, Mofokeng allegedly started demanding paternity tests.
Ntombi’s son is now 11 and the boy has started to ask probing questions about his father, she says.
“Sometimes he asks me if he could visit his dad, or where he is. I just cry.”
Their relationship has left her emotionally scarred.
“I have a lot of anger.”
Ntombi has managed to pass matric and hoped to further her studies.
The Saturday Star spoke to three sources who independently corroborated Mofokeng’s alleged sexual predation, including his sexual affairs with Ntombi and two other young girls. According to those close to Mofokeng in the ANC, he has a history of seducing young girls with expensive gifts and money.
“There are lot of stories about him and young girls. When we were doing our own investigations, we found that he uses Sasco and ANCYL members to draw these young girls from schools. There’s even a guy in Vanderbijlpark he uses as a pimp,” said a source.
Mofokeng denied the allegations against him. “I really don’t know what you (are) talking about in your allegations. If need be you may have to proof (sic) your allegations in the court of law. This is part of conspiracy to dent my image.”
*Not her real name.
Sexual relationship confirmed
A counselling report on the 14-year-old girl allegedly sexually groomed by Mofokeng has confirmed that she was in a sexual relationship with the politician.
The girl was referred for trauma counselling after her friend, a relative of Mofokeng, committed suicide in the mayor’s yard.
“According to Miss (name withheld), the grandfather (Mofokeng) of her friend who passed away started to text her through WhatsApp after the funeral He mentioned she is not sure why she replied and this is how the relationship started,” reads the report, dated October 23 and marked “confidential”.
“According to her, they also exchanged nude pictures of themselves and he sent her airtime The texting ended when a photo of her in underwear surfaced on social media and reached her parents.”
The report states that the girl "was severely traumatised (during the) first session".
"She was very emotional, cried all the time and felt scared and anxious... (She) cannot sleep and she was very pale and tired. She came across as shocked and devastated. She said she feels very guilty and ashamed of everything and thought of committing suicide like her friend."
Mofokeng, who stands accused of sexually assaulting and grooming the minor, has been placed on special leave pending an investigation.
His matter was postponed yesterday to November 28 in the Vanderbijlpark Magistrate Court.