Teenage rape victim failed by family and government

Raped repeatedly, her life threatened, labelled a liar, and forced to live in the same house as those responsible.

This has been the plight of a teenage girl from Bethal, Mpumalanga, and paints a sad picture of a system which routinely fails to protect children, even when they are brave enough to come forward about rape and abuse.

At 14 years old, she was raped by a stranger in Kriel, she says.

Nomalanga’s* ordeal was far from over, because when she returned home to report the incident, her family simply did not believe her. A year later, her older brother began to allegedly sexually abuse her, emboldened by the assumption that nobody would believe her, she explains.

Neither her step-mother, nor her own father, have entertained her many cries for help, labelling her a liar and a rebellious teenager vying for attention and trying to “tear the family apart”.

“Everyone stands with him at home. I’ll be killed, I’m afraid my family is capable of doing anything for their reputation. Ngiye saba ( I am scared),” says Nomalanga when probed about whether she tried to open a case against her brother.

A painstakingly written letter in which the 16-year-old tries to explain her ordeal was recently forwarded to journalists by an adult close to her, in the hopes that it would reach the highest offices in government.

“On the 10th of January 2019 I was raped by my brother. It was one of the horrible things I cried more than I did first. I screamed for help he told me he will kill me if I spoke (sic),” she says.

“He kept on raping me several times. No one knew. I’m scared of my brother even now and seeing him is the most painful thing of all.”

Over the weekend, Nomalanga opens up to The Citizen, her brother is on his way home… and she is in a state of panic.

Every time her brother comes home, she says, he arrogantly addresses his sister’s accusations by asking the family if she is “still sulking at me,” leading to her family ridiculing her and questioning her sanity, while refusing to get her any help.

What has driven her to the point of suicidal thoughts is the fact that over and above the emotional abuse she suffers at home, the social worker assigned to her case has reprimanded her for not speaking up sooner.

“What were you afraid of? There is nothing painful about talking,” Nomalanga says, quoting the social worker.

Nomalanga was assigned a social worker through the help of one of her teachers at her school. Despite this, she says, she has not received therapy. She still lives with her alleged perpetrator and there is no case opened against any of the people alleged to have raped her.

When asked how the described situation could be allowed to continue, Mpumalanga Department of Social Development spokesperson Comfort Ngobe said officials were looking into the matter. They are investigating, among other elements, the conduct of the social worker.

Indeed, the system has failed her, Nomalanga notes flatly, and she is at a point where she is about to give up hope.

Stories like these are not unique, says renowned independent child rights consultant Joan van Niekerk.

“We see it in all sorts of situations. One example… is a child whose mother agreed with the policeman who was working on the case, to accept beer in exchange for allowing the charges to be dropped.”

She is referring to a case in Limpopo in which a 12-year-old girl was raped by a known assailant and the mother accepted R3,000 in return for dropping the charges. The same mother accepted R500 and a case of beer when her daughter reported a second rape case when she was 15.

Van Niekerk points out that under the Sexual Offences Act, the parents of a child and the social worker has a responsibility to make sure that police are notified if an alleged sexual offence has taken place and that, even in the case where the perpetrator is unknown, a docket should be opened and the child is entitled to an array of services, including therapy and the option to be sent to a place of safety.

– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.