Gym ‘rape’ evidence weighed
National Prosecuting Authority considers whether to press charges in case of alleged attack at gym, writes Kevin Farley Mazibuye hits out at Minara
AWEEK after the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl at Westville’s Virgin Active, a decision to press charges against the alleged attacker is pending. He has, however, been banned for life from all Virgin Active gyms.
The suspect was banned after the girl reportedly told police that the man, a gym member, raped her in a disabled bathroom stall on Saturday, August 16.
Virgin Active spokeswoman Kathy Malherbe confirmed the incident and said the gym was co-operating fully with police.
“Virgin Active provided the SAPS with the alleged rapist’s full details and officers on the case have obtained a statement from the suspect. Virgin Active has banned the member for life and made available CCTV footage to support the legal process to follow. The member and her family have been offered – and accepted – counselling,” she said.
NPA spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson said the senior public prosecutor received the docket on Friday. It would have to be studied before a decision was taken, she said.
The teen was examined by a district surgeon and, according to police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane, a case of rape was opened for investigation by Westville police.
“The suspect was interviewed and a warning statement given. The docket was taken to the senior State prosecutor for a decision.”
A warning statement is one issued by police to warn the accused of his or her rights in terms of Section 35 of the con- stitution. Police have viewed the CCTV footage from the gym which captured some of the interaction between the two.
The mood at the Westville gym this week was no different to any other week, according to gymgoers.
A man who identified himself only as “Mike” said, “I keep to myself at the gym, but I haven’t seen any changes in the mood there. It’s been just like last week or the week before. The only thing I’ve noticed is that there has been a bit of speculation about the incident – who might have been involved and what actually happened.”
A small group of teenage boys from Westville High School were approached outside the gym. They asked not to be named.
“We’ve never heard of anything like this happening before. No one hooks up at the gym. People are talking about what happened because it’s been in the news, but we haven’t noticed any changes at the gym,” said one.
“I think this was an isolated incident,” said his friend.
Malherbe said gymgoers had no need to worry for their safety, and called the incident “unprecedented”.
“We would like to assure all our members that their safety at Virgin Active remains a top priority and every precaution is taken to ensure our health clubs are safe. We are extremely fortunate that our clubs are extensively covered by CCTV cameras. This includes the corridors outside disabled toilet facilities, which have a panic button facility.” CIVIL Rights Group, Mazibuye African Forum, has lashed out at the Durban-based Muslim Business Group Minara Chamber of Commerce, accusing it of exploiting the education needs of poor children for publicity.
Speaking to the Sunday Tribune, controversial Mazibuye leader Zweli Sangweni said the leaders of Minara had failed to deliver on promises to uplift the standard of education in maths and science in KwaZuluNatal, including the establishment of a maths academy.
“At the height of our anger against the Indian community in the province, when we felt that, as Africans, we were being marginalised in favour of Indians who were better educated, the leadership of Minara approached us, masquerading as an organisation that was socially responsible and offered to assist in the turnaround of education standards.
“They agreed on several interventions with us, includ- ing providing winter schools for children in areas that were under-performing and also to start a maths academy,” Sangweni said.
“Winter has come and gone and they have failed to deliver even a single ballpoint pen.
“Their deputy, Aslam Ismail, was only interested in meeting politicians.
“But nothing has ever come from their promises and they cannot be allowed to get away with how they have acted.”
Dismissed
However, Ismail, who is the deputy president of the Minara Chamber of Commerce, has dismissed the accusations, saying Minara had never committed to anything with Mazibuye.
“We only agreed to facilitate things, we never agreed to set up any maths academy. We said we would bring together different stakeholders and that is what we are doing.
“We even asked Mazibuye to bring the students to us that they wanted for tuition but they didn’t,” said Ismail.
There are fears that the war of words could re-ignite racial tensions which led to the formation of Mazibuye last year.
Already, a group of individuals claiming to be members of the organisation have been whipping up anger against Indians through an anti-Indian song.
However, Sangweni has called for calm, saying it was not an attack on Indians or Muslims in general.
“Let us be clear about this, there are Indian and Muslim individuals who have come forward and have shown a lot of support towards what we have been trying to achieve, which is to raise the quality of maths in our schools to enable African children to have a better chance at being accepted at universities to meet the needs of our labour market.”
Sangweni had praise for the work of councillor Fawzia Peer, Willowton Group director Razak Moosa, and the Turkishrun school, Star College.