Tshwane ward councillor in dock for rape, robbery

An ANC Soshanguve ward councillor appeared briefly in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrates’ Court on Thursday on four charges of rape and robbery with a firearm.

The accused, Sipho Emmanuel Maselane, was smuggled out of the court yard by an interpreter, who hid him in the back of his car while exiting through a gate meant only for the police and staff members of the court.

Maselane was an ANC ward councillor at the time of his arrest. His alleged accomplice has since disappeared.

Police spokesperson Kay Makhubela said the youngest victim was 14 years old in 2014 when the case was reported. He said the other women were between 30 and 37 years old.

Police spokesperson Constable Herman Moremi said Maselane allegedly gave his victims a lift in his car. He would then take them to his house or to bushes where he would allegedly rape and rob them of their belongings.

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One of the victims told the court earlier that she and a friend were standing next to the road waiting for a taxi when Maselane and his accomplice allegedly pulled up next to them and offered them a lift.

He also said he was working for the Tshwane municipality and showed the girls a text conversation he was having with a former ANC leader in Tshwane.

She said Maselane drove off with them onto a gravel road and when one of the women asked him where they were taking them, they stopped the car and pulled out guns telling the girl to keep quiet as she was talking too much.

They took the girls to bushes along the road where they allegedly raped them. The councillor’s friend, after raping one of the women, washed her private parts with a can of beer before the councillor allegedly took his turn.

The men took the women’s, cellphones, shoes and bags and told them to run further into the bushes, firing one or two shots. The women made their way home barefoot.

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