POLOKWANE – Several rape cases involving minors, reported at both the Mankweng and Seshego police stations in the last two weeks, are cause for concern, the police have said.
Most recently, girls aged 13,14 and 16 were apparently gang-raped in Makgofe in Seshego after returning from a social event last Sunday at around 02:30, the police confirmed.
“The unknown men, armed with grass-cutting tools and knives, raped the girls several times,” a Limpopo police statement read.
Meanwhile, a man was still at large last Wednesday for raping a 12-year-old girl in Mankweng (Unit G) for an extended period last year, according to police spokesperson Col Malesela Ledwaba. The girl, he said disclosed to a trusted family member that the crime had been ongoing since 2023.
In another case, a 16-year-old girl was raped by an unknown man who approached her in Steve Biko Park in zone 3 while she was on her way to attend evening classes.
He forced her into the nearby bushes and raped her, Ledwaba remarked.
“He fled the scene on foot and left the victim in the bushes,” he added.
Over the years, police crime statistics have pointed that the two stations record the highest rape cases in the country.
Limpopo police commissioner, Lt Gen Thembi Hadebe, however, said she directed stations management to use all resources at their disposal to track and apprehend the perpetrators.