A pastor who is accused of sexually assaulting sisters (a twelve and a 16-year-old) in Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Municipality at Mangqofoza location remains in police custody.
The mysterious pastor who was arrested for assault appeared at the Bizana Magistrate court on the 11th of January 2022 for a bail hearing that was postponed to the 18th of this month. It is evident that the proceedings of this case will not be easy for Miss Nwabisa Nteyi (The mother of the victims) as she left the court emotional and puzzled by the detective (whom she met for the first time though he is handling the case) telling her that the court doesn’t have the child’s statement, few minutes before the hearing. The Nteyi family did not receive any information regarding the case after the accused was arrested as a result they could not attend the initial appearance and almost missed the bail hearing as well, fortunately Ms Nteyi called the police station on time only to find out that the hearing was on the next day.
Community members, members of the African National Congress (ANC), ANC Woman’s league, and members of South African Youth Council (SAYC) held a protest march from cultural village to the Bizana magistrate court in support to The Nteyi family and to voice out their zero tolerance for Gender-Based Violence (GBV), led by the Mbizana SAYC Chahir Person (Mr Xolani Malunga) And the Ward Councillor of ward 20 (Mangqofoza branch) Ms Sanele Nomvalo, the protesters gathered outside the court since they were denied entry due to the covid -19 restrictions. Mr Malunga said they had enough of animals who are dragging the name of men down, he continued “….We urge the magistrate not to grant bail to the perpetrator, he must rot in jail” and urged families to take such sensitive cases to the authorities, he also appealed with the old religious leaders to do a thorough check with these abrupt churches to protect the community from following unauthorised and misleading pastors.
After the hearing, disturbed ward councillor Sanele Nomvalo expressed her disappointment in regard to the negligence of the detective handling the case and his failure to communicate with the victims’ families while addressing the protestors, she said the interference of law enforcement would be much appreciated in this case.
