LEBOGANG SEALE
A BRUTAL and cold-hearted gang has been waging war on residents of Freedom Park, near Eldorado Park, attacking them with golf clubs before robbing and often raping them.
The gang attacks at dawn and late in the evening. The victims are hit with golf clubs, then robbed and raped while they are unconscious.
The gang call themselves Sidl’abafazi abafileyo(We rape dead women).
They base themselves in a bushy area along a path that residents use as a short cut to the Golden Highway. The site is nicknamed Parliament and the gang members also call themselves MPs (members of Parliament).
At least five people are said to have been killed and scores of women raped during the attacks spanning more than a year.
Tamari Mnisi said she had been walking to a night prayer meeting on October 28 when she was ambushed and struck repeatedly with golf clubs before being robbed. Bleeding profusely and in pain, she outran her attackers and escaped being raped.
“I could see they had golf sticks. As I ran, they hit me on my head and around my mouth,” Mnisi said, showing
damage caused to her jaw and teeth. She also sports a gash on the side of her head.
More devastated was Mihloti*, 50. In September, she was gang-raped and left for dead after she had been struck repeatedly with golf clubs. The rape took place not far from the spot where Mnisi had been attacked.
Mihloti is bed-ridden more than two months after the attack. She cannot hear properly and suffers blackouts and loss of memory.
“Sometimes I forget what day it is. My whole body is so weak that I can’t walk or do anything. I don’t know what I will eat. I’ve got no money or food. Nothing.”
Until her attack on the evening of September 11, she had been a hawker in Joburg’s inner city. She now fears her landlord may evict her from her RDP house because she has defaulted on her rent.
She has scant memory of her ordeal. “I saw a man behind me. He hit me on my head, cheek and around my ear with a golf stick
.”
She learnt about her rape only while in hospital, where she spent two weeks.
Nkateko*, 15, is still traumatised after a man raped her at around the same spot while she was returning from school in Diepkloof in April. Her aunt collapsed and died when the girl broke the news.
She was able to recount her ordeal articulately. “Sometimes I see him in my sleep, doing the same thing.”
Another victim is Patricia*. She was robbed of her cellphone and cash, then gang-raped by four men who threatened her with guns, a knife and machetes on December 31.
Zukile Magqirana, 38, and Simon Manganyi, 48, have lost their jobs after being forced to remain at home, bed-ridden as a result of being beaten by the gang.
Fourteen suspects were arrested in October. They face charges ranging from murder, attempted murder and rape to robbery with aggravating circumstances. Among the suspects is a 14-year-old boy. More arrests are expected.
The accused were due to make their third appearance in the Protea Magistrate’s Court this week.
*Not their real names