Police are searching for three men who allegedly gang-raped four schoolgirls at gunpoint and assaulted six boys with sjamboks in Mqhekezweni village in Mthatha in the early hours of Friday morning.
This is the same village where former president Nelson Mandela grew up in.
The three balaclava-clad gunmen forced the girls and boys out of their lodgings after 1am on Friday and allegedly repeatedly raped the girls in the vicinity of a nearby river.
The four girls were taken to hospital in Mthatha for treatment and counselling, while some pupils, who are boarders in Mqhekezweni, were seen leaving the village with their bags.
The victims are pupils at a local school and are said to be between 19 and 21-years of age.
Police spokesperson Captain Dineo Koena said it was reported that around 10pm on Thursday three men – one armed with a pistol – kicked open the door of a residence where some schoolboys and schoolgirls live and robbed them of their phones.
At around 1am on Friday, three gunmen again attacked the group.
“They kidnapped the girls and six schoolboys and took them to the dongas near the local river banks. The girls and the boys were ordered to strip naked. The men took turns in raping the girls. The boys were beaten with sjambok and sticks,” said Koena.
She said it was not clear whether the three men who allegedly raped the girls were the same men who had allegedly robbed them of their cellphones on Thursday night.
“But the suspects we are looking for are armed and dangerous,” she said.
When the Dispatch arrived at Mqhekezweni at about 2pm on Friday, the SAPS forensic steam were busy at the crime scenes taking pictures, fingerprints and combing the area for any leads, including spent cartridges.
Social workers were busy counselling the affected boys, parents and some residents, while local villagers looked on in shock.
Some pupils could be seen leaving the village in fear.
Education MEC Mlungisi Mvoko condemned the incident and called on villagers to work with the police in a bid to bring the perpetrators to book.
Provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima confirmed the incident, saying: “It is alleged four school girls have been ganged-raped, while some male pupils who have been boarding in the adjacent building were left injured after they were sjambokked.”
Local traditional leader Nkosi Zanomthetho Mtirara said the community was reeling in shock over the incident.
“This is barbaric. This is inhumane, this is an act of hooliganism. This is condemned in the strongest terms and justice must take its course. We demand that justice be done for the victims and their families.
“They [rapists] do not deserve to be among the society,” Mtirara said.
“To restore our integrity and dignity as both the school and the village, it means that all community members must work extra hard with the police to ensure that all the suspects are quickly arrested. This is a crisis that not only needs to be exposed but strongly condemned by all sectors and the perpetrators arrested and jailed.”
Mtirara said this was the first time that pupils had been raped either at the school or at the villages in the area, but there had been previous incidents where pupils boarding in the village had been robbed of valuables by criminals who broke into their rooms...