Byline: Levhuwani Matumba
01 November 2021
The community of Kinross Ext 25 called a meeting on Friday, 29 October 2021 to discuss the issue of the alleged rape of a 6-month-old baby.
After the meeting, it was decided that the family should be visited to get more information on what happened.
The mother of the alleged victim was found, and she did explain what transpired.
According to the mother, the six-month old baby is looked after by the father and her teenage brother while she is at work.
“One day when I came back from work, I found that the child was crying nonstop and when I changed her diaper, I noticed some changes on her private parts.
I went to my neighbour and asked her to come and check the baby.
She told me to take the child to the clinic because it looked like something was done to the child,” said the mother who further informed the mob that she indeed took the child to the clinic.
According to her, the nurses at Leandra Clinic had two different opinions.
The other nurses said the child was raped and the third one said it is just rash.”
The nurses referred the mother of the child to Evander Hospital whereby the doctor said it was rash and gave her ointment.
A few days later, the mother was said to have been uncomfortable when she noticed that her child clinic card was missing.
She confronted her husband who then decided to pack his things and was ready to vanish.
When the husband saw a mob standing at the gate, he decided to go back home and hand over the clinic card to the mother.
He was interrogated by the mob and explained that he was about to leave his home because of the allegations against him.
He further mentioned that the reason he took the card was to go and get clarity from the clinic on what was discovered from the child.
One member of the community who was at the scene wearing an EFF t-shirt realized that the situation might get out of hand, he phoned the police and they arrived immediately.
The police informed the people that they are aware of the case and are the ones that took the mother to the hospital.
With the permission of the parents, they did show some members of the community what was written on the clinic card, that it was rash and as such could not open a rape case.
They further explained that they informed the mother of the child to get another doctor and see if the results will be the same.
The police also took the whole family for further questioning after allegations of abuse were also raised by some of the neighbours.
Some people close to the family said the man abuses his wife and alleged that her body is proof of physical abuse since she has more scars, including the ones of being instructed to sit on top of a burning stove.
The community advised the mother of the child to go back to Evander hospital and request to be assisted by Thuthuzela Centre.
