MBOMBELA – When the city’s Circuit High Court sat on Tuesday, the rape victims of Mr Johan Jabulani Mlombo (51) were surrounded by supportive community members.
This former head of an initiation school in Masoyi was found guilty on 17 counts of rape, while Sister Mapalesa Khoza (44), who also assisted in managing the school, was found guilty on two assault charges and one count of assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. Mlombo will spend his pre-sentencing period in jail, whereas Khoza’s bail of R3 000 was extended.
Twenty-one girls laid complaints against Mlombo and Khoza. Assault charges against Khoza stemmed from her alleged use of a “lesothi” (an initiation stick) to hit the girls.
It is alleged that she hit the girls on their backs with sticks and burnt them in their faces with a heated metal object. Khoza was also accused of luring the girls towards a dark room where Mlombo sexually abused them. The judge, Mr JJ Strydom, postponed the case to October 1 when victim impact reports will be submitted by the state.
A 12-year-old girl was one of the first witnesses to testify against the accused in March this year. “My aunt said that we were going to pick up a chicken for my gogo, but when we got there I realised that I was now going to initiation school.”
A 17-year-old partly-sighted witness testified that the girls were forced to perform hard labour while attending the school. “While we were there we had to fetch firewood and carry containers with water. I was the oldest and was told to fetch a big container filled with water, among other things,” she testified.
The group of 21 girls were forced to stay at the school for a minimum of three months. “We were told that we would go insane if we left the school before the initiation period was over,” she said.
“Ingoma Enkulu” (big initiation) was the event that signalled the end of their initiation period. The girls testified that they eagerly awaited this day, which they attended wearing skirts without any underwear. They were also told to cover their upper bodies with blankets. According to their testimonies, Khoza instructed each girl to enter a dark room on her own, where Mlombo was waiting for them. They testified that he instructed them to lie down on a grass mat. What he did next, varied from victim to victim.
Many of the girls testified that they cried while the abuse took place. “I had a lot of pain, even the next day,” a 14-year-old girl testified.
The girls’ rescue was initiated by one of the victims, a 15-year-old, who informed her mother that she had been raped. Her mother alerted the police and the girls were rescued from the initiation school on August 30.
During the trial, the prosecution and defence teams took great care in determining the nature of traditional initiation schools in order to determine where Mlombo and Khoza had deviated from the accepted matrix. One of the victims’ family members with knowledge of initiation schools shed some light on the practice. She confirmed that initiation schools traditionally last about three months.
The woman also explained how girls who attended these schools were branded. “A whistle is warmed in a fire. The girl’s cheek is smeared with Vaseline before the heated whistle is applied to her cheek. Most girls want this mark on their cheeks – it is a sign that they had attended an initiation school.”
Strydom commended the girls for testifying to the best of their ability and pointed out that, according to these reports, a number of the girls had lost their virginity to Mlombo.
After the case was postponed, Lowvelder spoke to one of Greater Rape Intervention Programme (GRIP) crisis centre coordinators, Ms Sandra Lubisi. “It is sad that these people have painted a wretched picture of initiation schools. Rape and assault are not part of what traditionally happens at these schools. It is good that they have been found guilty on some counts, although more would have been better,” she said.
On March 24, Lowvelder reported:
MBOMBELA – “Girls who attend initiation schools generally want to have their faces burnt by a heated whistle and do not wear underwear for the duration of the initiation period.” This was the testimony in the Nelspruit Circuit High Court on Wednesday.
The state called its fifth witness in the case against a man and woman of Masoyi who had been charged with 49 counts of rape and assault. The two accused are Mr Johan Jabulani Mlombo and Ms Sister Mapalese Khoza.
Where did the charges come from?
The woman who testified last Wednesday was a guardian of one of the 21 alleged victims. She was called to the witness stand after four of the duo’s victims had testified.
Lowvelder previously reported that the first witness was 17 years old when she attended the initiation school. The partly-sighted girl testified that Khoza had assaulted her and that she had been raped by Mlombo. A testimony of a girl who was nine at the time followed. A third witness (15) was called to the stand before the trial was postponed to Monday.
“The police were summoned to come and get us,” she said. Defence advocate Mr Madala Mulaudzi argued that the police were called because the girls’ parents did not pay the initiation-school fee in full. “This is not true,” the witness stated. “The police were called because an act was contravened.”
Testimony by another girl was followed by that of another minor victim’s guardian. She explained how girls who attended initiation schools were branded. “A whistle is warmed in a fire. The girl’s cheek is smeared with Vaseline before the heated whistle is applied to her cheek. Most girls want this mark on their cheeks – it is a sign that they had attended an initiation school.”
The guardian confirmed that a fee of R800 was payable when a girl had enrolled at the school. When asked what happened when someone refused to pay the money, she said: “That never happens. Parents want their children to celebrate their initiation.”
Judge Mr JJ Strydom asked the guardian, “What clothing will children wear when attending initiation schools?” “They wear a torn skirt or make an item to cover their private parts and cover themselves with a blanket. They do not wear underwear while attending initiation schools.”
On Thursday, it was another minor girl’s turn to testify. Numerous discrepancies between her initial version of what had been done to her and her testimony were pointed out by the accused’s legal representatives.
In reaction to allegations that Mlombo sexually violated the minors, his legal representative, Adv Le Roux, replied: “My client will aver that he sprinkled you with holy water and rubbed you in for protection. He will state that he was not raping you, but blessing and protecting you.”
The case continues this week.
