Durban — South African children’s rights activist Joan van Niekerk hopes the Hluhluwe Magistrate’s Court does not grant bail to a taxi driver who allegedly raped a girl and forced her to drink brake fluid.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the bail application began on Thursday and was expected to continue on Monday.
The Zululand Observer reported that Andiswa Nomfundo Mdletshe, 17, relayed the information about the incident to her parents before her death. She suffered from extreme stomach pain while speaking to them.
Police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said Hluhluwe police arrested a 24-year-old man for rape.
Van Niekerk hoped bail would not be granted, that there would be a speedy trial and that justice would prevail. However, she noted that “for this particular child it is too late”.
Van Niekerk said this was another example of rape where it seemed people believed they could harm the country’s children with impunity.
“To apply for bail after a crime like this is unbelievable if in fact the allegations are proven to be true. It seems an especially cruel crime, forcing the child to drink brake fluid and therefore causing her death. It was not an easy death, with extreme stomach pains, shivering and vomiting. Somehow or the other, we need to stop this war on our children,” Van Niekerk said.
Van Niekerk added that as a society we had to take stock and think about the country’s children, especially boys in terms of what they were taught and how they were raised.
“Are we raising children to care about others, or simply to only care for themselves and what they want when they want it? Parents, I think, have a special responsibility given where this country is at the moment. We are beset by corruption and violence of every kind, but the violence perpetrated against our children should bring us to a place where we can no longer ignore what is happening. And as a collective in this country we need to say: ‘No more rapes’.”
She said that if we treated our citizens of tomorrow the way many of our children are being treated right now, or raised them to believe they could have whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it, then this was a country she “certainly did not want to be in”.
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