‘Enough is enough!’: Dobsonville community demands no bail for rape-accused elder

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly cited that the suspect was a pastor at Dobsonville Methodist Church in Soweto. This was based on inaccurate and unverified reports. We apologise to Reverend R. E. Mokobori for any harm caused. We have taken steps to avoid such errors in the future.

Outraged Sowetan community members and several political organisations swarmed outside the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning to protest against a rape-accused church leader’s bail application.

The 58-year-old man, accused of raping a 12-year-old girl at his parental home in Dobsonville, Soweto, first appeared in court last week after his arrest on 4 April.

He is alleged to have raped the young girl on Good Friday when she had visited his home during an electrical outage at her home.

His formal bail application has been postponed to 22 April to allow the defence to gather further personal details.

Members of the public and the media were not allowed inside the courtroom, but that did not stop scores of people outside from expressing their deep dissatisfaction and outrage with the incident.

‘Enough is enough!’

Within the billowing crowd, Gauteng social development MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko told the media that, as a mother, she was disturbed by the case. The MEC was in attendance to picket against the accused’s bail application.

Nkomo-Ralehoko said that when she heard about the case, her 21-year-old daughter was the first person who came to mind, as she imagined the horror of such a thing being done to her child.

Responding to media reports that the suspect was a pastor, protesters commented on the distrust that emerges when individuals meant to serve and protect the community are implicated in such allegations.

A woman at the protest, who claimed to be a church leader, said it was “really disheartening” when religious figures were the ones in the dock.

“We can’t be the pastors that always lie, that always become the perpetrators… We are supposed to build…to care…. to love.

“Enough is enough!” she told broadcaster eNCA.

Build One South Africa leader Musi Maimane told eNCA that the maximum sentence should be imposed if the accused is found guilty.

No one is above the law

Boitumelo Thage, national organiser of Not In My Name, said no person, regardless of their leadership status, is above the law.

“We further emphasise that no individual, regardless of their position in society, their profession, or their standing within any institution, is above the law.

Leadership must never be used as a shield for wrongdoing,” he said.

Councillor Margaret Arnolds, Speaker of Council in the City of Johannesburg, echoed Maimane’s sentiment and called for the court to reject the bail application.

“Let me state clearly: given the extreme seriousness of these allegations and the profound harm inflicted on a minor, I sincerely hope that the court, in exercising its discretion, rejects the bail application,” she said in a statement.

“While I fully respect the independence of our judiciary and the fundamental legal principle that every accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, I believe that offences of this nature demand the highest level of caution,” she continued.

Support for the family

“I remain unwavering in my solidarity with the child and their family. No child should ever have to endure such trauma, and no family should have to face this pain alone, ” said Arnolds.

Department of Social Development Minister Nokuzola Sisisi Tolashe said social workers had been dispatched to offer psychosocial support and trauma counselling services to the family.

According to The Sowetan, the child continues to receive medical attention and is no longer attending school. Her mother also plans to move out of Dobsonville.