Case against educator postponed

The accused, Sipho Luvhengo, a former English educator at the school, applied for bail on Thursday, 5 September at the Bela-Bela Magistrate’s Court.

He is currently still in custody. Testifying on his behalf in a bail application, Luvhengo seemed confused by questions asked by Magistrate Gerhard Olivier. Olivier postponed the case to Monday, 9 September for a Venda translator to be present.

The magistrate made it clear that he did not want there to be any grounds for confusion or misunderstanding between the bench and the accused, or between the prosecution and the accused.
Luvhengo is accused of raping an 18-year-old learner at Bela-Bela High School.

Community members were gathered outside the court, while a limited number of family members of both parties, representatives of the school, and teacher’s unions were present in court.
Members of the Public Order Policing unit from Modimolle were present to ensure that the crowd remained calm.

Traffic officials closed down Moffat Street in front of the court building, for the duration of the court procedure.

At closing time Monday, the bail application was not finalized and the case rolled over to Tuesday, 10 September.

On Tuesday morning the case was postponed to Friday, 12 September for judgment in the bail application. The accused remains in custody.