A 15-year-old girl wept in the Alexandra Regional Court as she testified how she was repeatedly raped at a Sangoma initiation school. She said these traumatic incidents had turned her into a drug junkie and left her HIV positive.
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The teenager, who was only 11 years old at the time of the rape incidents, was testifying in the trial of Arthur Lucky Motaung, an Alex Gobela [a Sangoma trainer]. Motaung pleaded not guilty to 12 counts including six of rape, one of compelled rape, three of assault to commit grievous bodily harm using a sjambok, and two of common assault.
The witness told Magistrate Hanillie Banks, “I often had a habit of wandering away from home for a couple of hours and mixing with the Sangoma initiates [at Gobela’s place on 8th Avenue, Alex] and the accused then told me I had a Sangoma calling, which made me often wander away.”
The teenager said the accused, whom she referred to as Lucky and in other instances as Langa, urged her to join and become a member of his initiates. “The accused told me I was supposed to be his wife and I told him I was still too young for that and I also told him he had a wife already in Masechaba.” When asked by prosecutor Advocate Nduduzo Jiyane if she ever told anyone about the rapes, the witness said she never did as the accused had threatened to kill her and all the members of her family if she dared speak.
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After being raped numerous times by Langa, also known as Dr Lucky, the witness said the accused ordered her and a male initiate to have sex while he watched and added that he wanted to ensure ‘we did it right’. The girl then wept uncontrollably and told the magistrate that the accused had infected her with HIV. “I am so devastated as I will now live with HIV for the rest of my life. This has also caused untold misery in my family.”
The witness asked the magistrate if she could take a break from testifying as she was not coping. Banks granted an adjournment and on resumption, the girl testified that the accused had introduced her to drugs and she became hooked. She told the court that she had since been to rehab and hadn’t used drugs since.
The case will resume on October 3 and the accused, who was denied bail, was remanded in custody.
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