The members of Khula Community Development Project joined forces with SAPS to rescue a Grade 8 learner (15), who was married to a pastor (50) at Coza location in Libode, under the Nyandeni Local Municipality, recently.
It is alleged that the victim was attending the same church with this pastor, who claimed that God showed her in his dream that she should be his wife. According to the director for Khula Community Development Project, Petros Majola, they heard that the victim had already spent a week with the perpetrator as a married couple, even though the dowry was not paid yet.
He said when they arrived in his homestead recently, the victim was busy doing duties of a married woman preparing food for his family.
“To have sex with young girls who are unable to make their own decisions is not allowed by this Act (Criminal Law on Sexual Offences and Related Matters, Act 32 of 2007 as amended, Section 15 and 16). In these situations community members have a right to rescue the victim,” said Majola.
He said even though they host awareness drives on all media platforms and also they host imbizos in the great places, it seems as if people were still ignoring this problem. Majola said no one could say he/she was not aware that this is not allowed.
He added that children have a right to live and enjoy their childhood. “We cannot sell our children because their value is more than money.”
The spokesperson for the South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO), Vuyolwethu Notununu, this was the perpetrator’s second underage wife and third wife in total.
He said they committed themselves to the total eradication of these forced and arranged marriages, especially those involving underage girls. He added that they were shocked by the reasoning capacity of the adult congregants who saw no wrong in this arrangement.
“We call on the state to do an inquiry on all these new mushrooming churches. It is evident that a lot of ungodly activities are rife in these institutions and they appear to be cults of some sort,” said Notununu.
The spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Luxolo Tyhali, confirmed that the pastor and the grandmother of the victim briefly appeared before the Libode Magistrate’s Court on charges relating to an arranged marriage between the pastor and the grandmother. “The pastor, who elected to be represented by a private attorney, is charged with statutory rape, statutory sexual assault and abduction. The prosecution did not oppose bail against the victim’s grandmother and she was granted R500 bail. Her case was postponed until August 19 for further investigation. The minor is being kept at a safe place of safety,” he said.
He confirmed that the case against the pastor was postponed to today (July 8) for the police to profile him for information for the bail application.
