Andile ‘hid’ rape suspect
VICTIM SAYS PRESENTER HELPED
A POPULAR television presenter revered for her courage to speak against sexual abuse allegedly harboured her uncle while he was on the run for criminal charges that included rape. Andile Gaelesiwe, presenter of the SABC1 programme known for uniting longlost relatives, Khumbul ’ ekhaya, is said to have kept her uncle at her house in Oakdene, south of Johannesburg, after his estranged wife opened cases against him.
The complainant, who cannot be named because she is an alleged victim of rape, said she had opened cases that also include attempted murder, kidnapping and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
Police have confirmed that they are looking for a third suspect and have arrested two of his accomplices.
Relating her ordeal, the woman said the incidents happened on July 12 last year while on her way to work in Roodepoort, Johannesburg.
By this time, she said, she had already left their marital home in Meadowlands, Soweto. She had opened a case of intimidation against him and he had been served with a protection order after a domestic violence case in 2013.
“Our son was accompanying me to work at about 6.45am. Two men we thought were jogging past us immediately turned. One of them pulled out a gun the other a knife. They searched us and took my bag. They took out my cellphone from the bag. I thought it was a robbery.
“One of them phoned my hus- band and told him, ‘ here are your people, we got them’. My husband came and they forced us into his car. They drove us to our marital house. When arriving, my husband ordered the two guys to keep an eye on us while he went to open a garage door. He ordered me into the house and raped me,” she said.
The woman added that their son had seen one of the men giving her husband a gun before he told them to leave.
The child called her younger brother, who came to the house with her cousins.
After an altercation with her husband, she said, they went to the police station to lay charges. She said her husband was arrested two days later, but strangely released and went to live with Gaelesiwe.
Asked if it was true that she had hidden her fugitive uncle from the law, Gaelesiwe said: “Where do I fit in there? Don’t waste my time. Leave me alone. Ask the person who told you that.
“Don’t spoil my beautiful Sunday with lies and useless things. Have a beautiful Sunday.”
She is alleged to have called the complainant immediately after our call and apparently sent her threatening SMSes.
Gaelesiwe made headlines more than 10 years ago when she disclosed how she had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child and that the perpetrator was a family member.
She went on to start an organisation, Open Disclosure, to encourage victims of rape to speak out.