A daughter’s plea: Gauteng businesswoman’s nightmare after vicious Gqeberha beachfront rape 15 years ago

Celi Kawa, daughter of Andy Kawa who was viciously raped in Gqeberha in 2010 and who sued former police minister Bheki Cele for R5.8-million for negligence. (Photo: Supplied)

By Marianne Thamm

11 Mar 2025

Andy Kawa’s daughter says her belief in the justice system is dwindling while the balance of rights ‘feels very highly tilted towards the side of the accused’.

A Gauteng businesswoman, Andy Kawa, who was viciously raped in Gqeberha in 2010 and who sued former police minister Bheki Cele for R5.8-million for negligence, is facing repeated trauma in the Eastern Cape High Court.

Kawa was abducted, blindfolded and repeatedly and sadistically raped by her alleged attacker, Moses Gqesha, on the beachfront dunes in 2010.

Moses Gqecha (46) appears at the Gqeberha High Court on 4 March 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Die Burger / Lulama Zenzile)

It took police almost 15 years to arrest the accused in January 2024 as he lay sleeping on a park bench in Summerstrand. A DNA sample taken in 2020 was matched to Kawa’s matter only in 2023. Gqesha was arrested for property theft in June 2020, but released months later when charges were withdrawn. The DNA sample was taken at the time.

On Tuesday, 11 March 2025, after yet another postponement in the case, this time for a doctor’s appointment, Kawa’s daughter, Celi, spoke out, stating that “the rule of law is not simply a legal concept studied by scholars but something very tangible in our everyday lives”.

Celi Kawa, daughter of Andy Kawa. (Photo: Supplied)

She told Daily Maverick that “continuous delays like this not only take an immense emotional toll but also financial and practical – unlike the accused who has access to state resources at their pleasure for doctors’ appointments”.

This was while her mother, who was “unwell” and needed to take medication “to be able to sleep at night because of this ordeal that she pays for herself and each day impacts [on] that”.

Vicious cross-examination

This week, Kawa faced a vicious cross-examination by Gquesha’s legal representative, advocate Xolile Bodlo, who asked why she had not previously testified that she had apologised to his client for a gash on her lip, saying she had caused the wound herself.

As reported by News24’s Candice Bezuidenhout, Bodlo badgered Kawa on why she had not mentioned this during her cross-examination-in-chief by prosecutor Ishmet Cerfontein.

Kawa’s response was chilling and familiar to every woman.

“I was terrified of him. I was trying to save my life. I knew that I was dealing with a very violent man who had already threatened to kill me. I was so afraid that if I didn’t say what he wanted to hear, he would kill me.”

She sustained facial injuries when the accused began to beat her face with his fists, smashing open her lip.

Gqesha has pleaded not guilty to eight charges of rape as well as charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and theft. He pleaded guilty to the charge of “theft”.

Before her ordeal, Kawa’s car had been broken into and her belongings stolen before she was dragged off blindfolded into the dunes, repeatedly raped and abused, before she managed to escape the following morning.

Balance of rights

Celi said her mother had not been treated equally during this long and drawn-out ordeal and her faith in the justice system “is dwindling”.

“Victims and their families still have to work, pay rent, take time off work to attend court and pay for flights and associated costs. For instance, I took time off work to be here today to hear the end of my mom’s testimony and now I am left waiting,” she said.

There needed to be “a balance of rights here and in this case it feels very highly tilted towards the side of the accused”.

She said that as a South African, “one of the things I am incredibly proud of is our legal system and the fact that no one is above the law and thus we are all equal before the law”.

She warned of the unravelling of society, saying, “To go back to the rule of law being the fabric that binds society together, let’s take that analogy and run with it.

“If you’ve ever had a piece of clothing that has a loose thread, it’s fine when one thread is loose, but as they all start to loosen the cloth falls apart.

“I’m aware I’m just one thread, my mom is another, my grandmother another, my uncle another, our extended family another, our friends another, the people who watch the news another, people who hear about this from their friends and family another. There are many pieces of thread that are currently being pulled and we should never take for granted that at some point the cloth will [not] completely fall apart.”

Kawa’s initial civil court victory over the minister of police in the Eastern Cape High Court was appealed against by Cele. Kawa has taken the matter to the Constitutional Court, which ruled the matter should be reheard in the high court. DM

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Vicious cross-examination

Balance of rights