The lobby group’s campaign manager, Jacques Broodryk, tells OFM News that an exasperated relative of the then five-year-old victim approached them in October 2019 seeking their assistance after the Director of Public Prosecutions in the Free State (DPP) decided not to prosecute the alleged perpetrator. 

Afriforum’s private prosecution unit probed the matter, finding that pertinent statements of several witnesses were not taken by the police when the case was initially opened. The case was thereafter reopened by the police, and it was subsequently discovered that the suspect was linked to other sexual offences in the area. 

The unnamed suspect has since been charged with two counts of sexual assault and one of rape and appeared before the Reitz Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday 9 June. Broodryk criticises the initial inaction by authorities on the case.

“We as South Africans have become accustomed to being let down by the police service. We know that gender-based violence (GBV) is a major problem in this country. We know that ordinary citizens aren’t protected and we often hear of cases where people’s complaints are not handled the way they should be. But it’s especially shocking when it comes to a five-year-old child who was sexually assaulted and police did not do a proper investigation,” says Broodryk passionately. He stresses that these mishaps by law enforcement agencies should not be tolerated.

The case has been transferred to the Bethlehem Regional Court and the suspect will reappear there on 15 June 2021. Whilst the suspect has already made his first court appearance, he is yet to plead and legally therefore cannot be named. Broodryk says this is also to protect the victim in this case.

This comes less than a month after Free State law enforcement agencies conceded during a gender-based-violence (GBV) and Femicide Indaba held at Bobbiespark in Bloemfontein that they have failed in competently handling the scourge of GBV in the province.

The Acting Free State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Navilla Somaru, and Provincial Police Commissioner, Baile Motswenyane, admitted that the situation in the province with regards to the issue is quite dire at this stage. Somaru cautions that many Free State towns and cities are ranked amongst the places with the highest sexually-based offences and gender-based violence statistics/case numbers in the country, making specific mention of Botshabelo, Bronville in Welkom, and Phuthaditjhaba.

The Provincial Police Commissioner says if the systems put in place by law enforcement agencies were indeed effective, gender-based violence numbers would be lower. The indaba was meant to be a strategy session for all the relevant stakeholders to engage and pledge to implement the existing processes to curb the problem. Navilla says because law enforcement officials have failed to curb the problem, they are seeking to collaborate with broader civil society, churches, non-governmental organisations, and traditional authorities to help mitigate the problem.

OFM News