Eight Mpumalanga men sentenced to 30 life terms for rape

Eight men have been sentenced to 30 life terms for rape charges committed in separate incidents in Mpumalanga, police said on Wednesday.

Brigadier Leonard Hlathi said: “The South African Police Service in conjunction with the National Prosecuting Authority as well as the Judiciary have meted 30 life sentences during August and September 2018 to eight accused for rape charges committed in separate incidents.

“Amongst the convicts are duo Morena Kgabo, aged 21, and Thulani Khumalo, aged 20, who were granted harsh sentences for sexually abusing three victims aged between 13 and 15 at Standerton and Sakhile in 2013.”

He said the due was sentenced by the Secunda Sexual Offence Court on September 30 2018 after hearing that Kgabo kidnapped the victims along the streets and took them to Khumalo’s place where they took turns raping them.

Hlathi revealed that Kgabo was found guilty on 14 rape charges and as a result granted 14 life sentences.

“He was also sentenced to 10 more years’ imprisonment for two counts of kidnapping and one year for assault. His co-accused, Khumalo, was found guilty on 11 charges of rape for which he was granted a 15-year jail term for each, totalling 165 years, which will run concurrently. He was also granted an additional five years imprisonment for kidnapping and will serve an effective 20 years in prison.”

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Police revealed that another rape convict was a 21-year-old man from Kwachibikhulu near Chrissiesmeer who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victims who are related to him.

“He was granted a life sentence for statutory rape at the Ermelo Regional Court on August 23 2018 for raping two boys aged nine and 13. The court heard how he raped them on several occasions while they were in his care. He was also granted another 10 years imprisonment for raping an 18-year-old woman.

“Among the convicts who were sent to jail was also Solomon Sizwe Yende, aged 30, who was granted three life sentences by the circuit of the Pretoria High Court sitting in Barberton for raping three minors aged 3, 7, and ten, around Barberton. Yende forcefully took the seven and ten-year-old girls to a secluded area where he raped them at knifepoint. The court heard that he also snatched the three-year-old in the playing area of a retail shop and raped her at a nearby park,” Hlathi said.

On Tuesday, KwaZulu-Natal police said the Madadeni Regional Court convicted and sentenced a 53-year-old man to 18 years imprisonment for raping his brother’s grandchild.

Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said: “In July 2013, the victim, five, was at her homestead in Section four with her grandfather’s brother who approached her and raped her while her aunt and grandmother were not at home. The victim reported the matter to her grandmother and a case of rape was opened at Madadeni police station. In January 2018, after an intensive investigation by the FCS Unit, the accused was arrested after the investigating officer established that he was hiding at a certain farm in the Free State province.”

A Victims of Crime report released in June this year by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) revealed that the number of rapes of South African women was among the highest in the world.

It said a total of 250 out of every 100,000 women were victims of sexual offence, compared to 120 out of every 100,000 men.

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