Raped as children, survivors find haven in East Rand and say more needs to be done on GBV

First Mihle was trafficked, raped and then prostituted up to 30 times a day by her captors.

Thabi’s roommate was raped repeatedly, she can remember at least 16 over a period of two years. She was then only seven years old.

These are not their real names, but the two teenagers count among 60 victims who have found a haven at an East Rand shelter for women and children. They are hiding from their abusers.

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For some of them, it became too much and they sought help – while others, like Mihle and Thabi, were eventually removed from enduring hell at home.

“There is a pandemic of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa,” said Cynthia Dinalane of Tshegofatsa Rona Welfare.

Her Ekurhuleni haven never turns anyone away and she receives new victims daily. “We have had infants as young as under a year being raped, abused and in one instance, succumb from injuries sustained due to this.” Dinalane shared the story of a girl, less than two years old, who died in hospital.

She was admitted after arriving at Tshegofatsa Rona unable to walk. “Based on her injuries, it looked as if her legs were forced open to enable men, and in this case, it included family, to rape her.

Unfortunately, she did not make it while in hospital,” she said. “Every woman and child has have a horror story that defies any sense of humanity,” said the Democratic Alliance’s Bronwyn Engelbrecht.

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“We are all aware of GBV but it’s not until you are confronted with it, with the stories of victims en masse, that it really hits home.”

She said that the problem was out of control. Tina, also a pseudonym, recently celebrated her 13th birthday.

She was an arrival from KwaZulu-Natal in desperate need of surgery after being frequently raped. Later, during her sustained ordeal, a blade was inserted in her vagina, her uterus slashed from the inside and her outer genitalia mutilated.

She escaped her hell three years ago and now wears adult incontinence nappies because of constant bleeding.

“I am okay now. Miss Dinalane told me that I am beautiful, that I am strong and that I have a home here.

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That I am safe and that nothing was my fault,” she said. The house where Dinalane shelters victims needs maintenance and is crowded, because sometimes she can’t keep up with the sheer number of people seeking help.

“She has turned to social media for assistance with food and paying the bills. Otherwise we would not survive,” she said.

In the small yard at Tshegofatsa Rona, there are several children, all under five, playing about. A young girl, barely out of nappies and a rape victim, has had to have frequent gynaecological treatment due to an irregularly stretched and bruised vagina.

“They say it will come right. I can only hope,” said Dinalane. “Hope is the operative word here,” said Engelbrecht.

“Because in many cases that’s all these women and children have to cling onto.” Engelbrecht has heard of horrors that cannot be shared without being overwhelmed by emotion.

“Something must be done, because GBV is a cancer in our society that needs to be tackled from every aspect.

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Law enforcement must build solid cases to prevent these cowards that raise their hands to women and children, who rape them, to be incarcerated.

“Too often, shoddy investigations lead to charges being dropped and the perpetrators get off scot-free” said Engelbrecht.

“What kind of society is this that we allow this to happen? In my view, 16 Days of Activism is just not enough, because all it is, is paying lip service to the realities victims face daily.”