Sex crimes against kids soar in Soweto

In just under a year, 123 children — boys and girls — have been subjected to sexual abuse by the adults they trusted in three different cases that took place in the Soweto area.

In the latest incident, a Protea South spaza shop owner allegedly targeted girls between the ages of six and 11, luring them with the promise of sweets, cakes and small amounts of cash before sexually molesting them. He would also encourage them to bring their friends to him.

“I’m deeply hurt and all I want now is to see him behind bars. That is where he truly belongs,” said one of the children’s mothers.

The children, all from the same street in Protea South, revealed their “secret” to a visiting aunt who alerted one of the mothers, who in turn alerted her neighbours.

He has scarred our children for life,” another parent said.

The children were taken to the Nthabiseng Thuthuzela Care Centre for treatment. The parents said they were told that the girls had not been raped.

The man is expected to appear in court on 25 October.

Unfortunately, the girls’ experience is not an isolated case.

In October last year a 57-year-old man, a school patroller at the AB Xuma Primary School in Orlando, was arrested after he was accused of sexually molesting 87 pupils, aged between seven and eight. The man, Johannes Molefe, is expected to appear in court again on 12 November. In a cruel twist of fate, a police social worker assigned to the case also allegedly sexually abused some of the girls.

Boys are at risk too.

In May, a 34-year-old Protea Glen man was arrested in connection with the rape and molestation of 29 boys he had recruited to join his soccer academy. It turned out that the academy was not registered with the South African Football Association. The man died before he could face trial.

“The themes of betrayal, trust and deceit have engulfed these children’s lives,” said director of clinical services at the Teddy Bear Clinic, Shaheda Omar. She said this would impact on the children’s level of trust of people, especially those in positions of power.

Omar believes checks on people who work with children are not rigorous and adequate enough: “Definitely not.”

Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research specialist Lisa Vetten said there were many factors that made children vulnerable, not just in Soweto or Gauteng, but in many areas where adult supervision was lacking.

Omar agreed. One of the risk factors was that parents had to leave their children and go out to work, she said.

Vetten said leaving children unsupervised for long periods could add to children’s vulnerability.

The justice system does not appear to be a deterrent.

Perpetrators often act with impunity and when caught, ask for leniency, “because they know they might get away with it”, Omar said.

The leniency often evident in the justice system sent a message to victims that the system was failing them, that their trauma and experience was being negated.

“Justice is failing our society as a whole,” Omar said.

The latest provincial crime statistics released by the South African Police Services on 11 September 2018 indicate a 5.7% rise in sexual offences in Gauteng.

This amounts to 550 more sexual offences committed in the province between the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 financial years. Over this period incidents of crime of a sexual nature rose from 9,566 to to 10,116. DM