Mpuma 'breeding monsters'

2003-06-24 21:35

Cobus Coetzee

Nelspruit - Mpumalanga police expressed outrage on Tuesday at the dramatic increase in rural child rape over the past six months.

Provincial police commissioner Eric Nkabinde said Mpumalanga was "breeding monsters" with up to 300 sex crimes against children currently being reported per month.

The latest rapes include that of a two-year-old girl raped at a creche, a 14-year-old girl raped at a lodge and a 10-year old boy sodomised by a family friend in Tonga.

"It's not strange anymore that up to ten child rape cases are reported every day," said Nkabinde.

He said Mpumalanga would breed a generation of "monsters" if the onslaught against children doesn't stop. The most child rapes are reported in the Highveld area, especially on farms and in townships.

In the Lowveld on Monday, police were informed of a toddler who'd been raped by an 18-year-old teenager on June 1 when she was left at her grandmother's crèche in Clau Clau tribal trust near White River. The teen hasn't been arrested.

On Friday, a 14-year-old girl who was playing pool at La Rochelle Lodge near Malelane was raped when a visitor asked her to accompany him to buy cigarettes at nearby cafe. She was raped in sugar cane fields on the way back to the lodge. The next day, the man raped her in her room.

The girl alerted the lodge owner, who informed police on Monday.

An arrest is expected to be made soon.

Boy ordered to fetch sister

In Tonga, a ten-year-old cattle herder was sodomised while he and his 11-year-old brother were herding cattle near Kamhlushwa.

A 20-year-old family friend sodomised the 10-year-old boy, then beat his brother and ordered him to fetch his sister or he wouldn't release the younger boy. The older boy ran to his parents who apprehended the man and handed him over to police.

Police have urged parents to take responsibility for their children's safety and not to trust relatives or neighbours so easily.

- African Eye