Fed-up women take on criminals
HEADMAN’S SON ON RUN
FED-UP women at a Limpopo village no longer stand by and watch as their area is ravaged by rapists and other criminals.
Women from Nyavani in Malamulele say they have been let down by men and the police. Last week they endured a cold winter night and slept in the open protecting a 25-year-old mother of three who had been raped, allegedly by the local headman’s son.
The suspect is out on parole for another crime. The man allegedly broke into the woman’s home on two occasions after the ordeal.
He allegedly threatened to kill her after police visited his home, but he managed to evade them and is on the run. The woman said she now lives in fear.
“My mother works in Thohoyandou as a domestic worker. On another occasion he [the alleged rapist] came but fortunately I was sleeping in the other hut with my mother, who was back from Thohoyandou,” she said.
On Wednesday afternoon the women held a meeting at the local sports ground and later marched to the headman’s homestead to hand him a memorandum of grievances. In the memorandum, they said they could not sleep at night.
“There are families who are robbed every month, and a local pastor’s home was broken into on many occasions and robbed, but nothing is happening,” said a woman who refused to be named.
One woman recently put on boots and said it showed that there were no men in the village and that women should defend themselves.
Headman Amos Macheke said it was true that there was crime in the village but denied that he was not doing anything about it.
“We have come up with by-laws which will be introduced to residents after we reach consensus with community structures,” said Macheke.
Concerning rape allegations against his son, Macheke said: “I cannot speak for him. If he is involved in crime, I am not sending him to do it.”
Malamulele police spokesman Warrant Officer Alson Mapindani confirmed that a rape case has been opened after a 25-year-old woman was raped last weekend.
“We understand the man allegedly went back to intimidate her, and a case of intimidation has also been opened ... but the suspect is on the run and we’re looking for him,” said Mapindani.