Outrage over gran’s rape ordeal

THE Elders Voice organisation has called for the military training of young men in order to be taught discipline following another rape of an elderly woman.

It is alleged that a 89-year-old grandmother was raped at her home in the Ubombo area, northern KwaZulu-Natal, allegedly by her grandson.

Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said the 25-year-old grandson appeared in the Ubombo Magistrate’s Court and was remanded in custody.

The elderly woman was sitting in the yard under the tree so she could easily get up to use the toilet.

Mbele said that at about 5pm, the woman’s daughter-in-law heard her crying in the toilet.

She found her inside the toilet, covered in blood. “She told her daughter-in-law she had been raped by one of her grandchildren.”

Mbele said said the woman was admitted to hospital and her condition was not known. Founder of the Elders Voice NGO, Joanne Herbst, described the incident as “disgusting”.

She said the country should consider bringing back military training where young men could be taught discipline and respect.

Last Thursday, the Mahwelereng Regional Court sentenced a Limpopo man, Malose Lucky Mathiane, 29, to life imprisonment for the rape of a 72-year-old woman. Mathiane was found guilty of breaking-into the woman’s house on January 27, 2019, and raping her at knifepoint.