Eastern Cape community demands justice after two seven-year-olds are raped

The Matatiele community has demanded justice after a boy and a girl, both aged seven, were raped in two separate incidents at schools in the Eastern Cape town.

In October 2024, the girl, who was waiting for her school transport at Bergview College, was asked to “come sweep” a classroom in a quiet part of the school where she was, according to statements Daily Maverick has seen, drugged with something that smelled like “burning tyres” and raped. When she regained consciousness, her tracksuit pants were covered in blood.

On Saturday, Police Minister Senzo Mchunu called for calm, saying the police had heard the calls for justice in the “tragic violation of two minors in the Eastern Cape which occurred in two separate incidents in October and November last year”.

In the second incident, in November, a seven-year-old boy was raped when he went to the toilet at another independent school in the area. An arrest was made, but a local women’s organisation said the suspect had been released because of lack of evidence.

“The ministry fully understands the concerns of the public and the urgency surrounding these cases,” said Mchunu.

Bergview College is a private school that is subsidised by the state.

After the girl was raped, she was transferred to another school hundreds of kilometres away.

The Holekane Women Support Organisation said the girl was not doing well and the incident had traumatised her mother, who is also a rape survivor.

Mchunu said three people were under investigation for the crime, including the school principal.

“All outstanding statements have since been obtained by the investigating officer. DNA tests have also been conducted. The senior state prosecutor will be consulted in the course of the coming week, whereafter the family will be provided with feedback on the matter.”

Bergview College in Matatiele, Eastern Cape. Photo: (Supplied)

AfriForum steps in

AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, representing the principal, said the principal was not a suspect and had no contact with the child “prior to the offence being committed”.

The principal, who has not been charged, was named by both Mchunu and AfriForum.

“AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit rejects with contempt any suggestion that the unit is protecting a suspected rapist from investigation. The unit represents Jaco Pieterse, principal of Bergview College in Matatiele.

“Pieterse is not a suspect in the rape case involving a learner at the school, nor have the South African Police Service (SAPS) ever regarded him as a suspect that would justify their request for a buccal sample for DNA testing. Further, it is the unit’s understanding that Pieterse had no contact with the victim prior to the offence being committed, nor is there any evidence that the offence took place on school grounds,” it said.

Read more: Girl raped in Eastern Cape school ‘house of horrors’ to receive R5m in damages

“The investigating officer’s informal request that Pieterse provide a buccal sample was made at the behest of the victim’s mother. Therefore, it is patently untrue that Pieterse has not cooperated with the police in their investigation.

“On the contrary, in a letter to the Matatiele Police Station commander dated 17 February 2025, AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit made it abundantly clear that Pieterse will ‘cooperate with the SAPS and consider any request within the scope of the Criminal Procedure Act’. To request a buccal sample from someone who is not a suspect, and without following procedure as per the applicable legislation, is an abuse of process,” said AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit.

Read more: When protectors become predators — rising incidence of sexual violence against children in SA schools

It continued: “In the correspondence, the unit noted that the victim’s mother is an employee of the SAPS and that ‘it is concerning that a complainant appears to be directing such a serious investigation, which should be led by a Police Detective’s expert discretion and expertise’.

“We must accept that the investigating officer applied the necessary discretion and expertise based on the evidence and concluded that Pieterse is not a suspect. We must further accept that the seven-year-old victim is able to identify the rapist and provide details of the incident — yet, Pieterse is not a suspect.

“AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit challenges the SAPS to provide the evidence to support any suspicion that Pieterse is linked to the case.

“Notably, the unit told the police in correspondence that this abuse of process puts Pieterse in an untenable position in which agreeing to the request for a sample raises the suspicion that he is a suspect, and rejecting the request raises the same suspicion.”

Last week, Daily Maverick sent questions to the school principal on the WhatsApp number provided by him, asking whether all the school’s employees had been checked against the National Register for Sex Offenders, who at the school had been asked to provide DNA samples and whether they had done so.

Further questions related to whether the school allowed the police access to all possible information about the incident. The school, not Pieterse, replied, saying it was not possible to discuss the issues at the moment.

Matatiele, in the northern part of the Eastern Cape. (Photo: Mlungisi Mbele)

Deregistered

The Eastern Education Department has taken the first step to deregister Bergview College.

Eastern Cape education spokesperson Mali Mtima said the school had been issued with a notice to deregister it as it was a condition of its licence that it provide learners with a safe and secure environment. He said the rape and the way the school handled the matter had violated this condition.

“A rape case was opened and to this date no progress was made,” said Mtima.

“The delays are attributed to the school management,” he said.

“The department is concerned with the conduct of the principal in relation to his apparent refusal to cooperate with the police.”

The decision to deregister went into effect 24 hours after the letter was sent on Friday, 28 March, and Mtima said children would be moved to other schools next term.

Social Development MEC Bukiwe Fanta urged anybody with information about the rape to come forward.

“Your courage in speaking up can make a significant difference in ensuring that justice is served and that the perpetrator is held accountable,” she said.

“We must work together as a community to create a safe environment for our children. Silence only enables the perpetrators of such crimes to consider their actions.”

The deregistration follows protest action by the EFF and a call for the school’s closure by the Congress of South African Students.

On Sunday, DC van Zyl, the chairperson of Bergview College’s board of trustees, wrote to parents that the school would approach the high court for an urgent interdict pending the review of the Eastern Cape Department of Education’s decision to deregister the school.

He said a person who worked at the school had been placed on indefinite leave after being identified as one of four possible suspects and that the principal was not a suspect. DM