The Hawks have rescued a 14-year-old girl from Tyoti village outside Dutywa in the Eastern Cape from forced marriage known as Ukuthwala. Her family allegedly arranged for her to be married to a 26-year-old man from Mvezo in Mthatha.
An agreement was reached between the girl’s family and that of her husband, without her knowledge. The girl has been taken to a place of safety. One of the girl’s relatives is shocked saying she is too young to be subjected to this.
“This is shocking and unbelievable. She is still young. There are girls who are 19 and 20 years here, they should have taken them not this little one. But this was done by her mother.
Provincial Hawks’ Lulama Jack has likened the practice to human trafficking.
“ It’s for the first time that we are having such a case in the Dutywa area because we used to do the awareness campaigns in all the calls that are surrounding Mthatha and Ngcobo and the Bhaca area where this thing they usually do it. It’s shocking that Dutywa is starting to do this again whereas we’ve been doing awareness campaigns on radios, schools and television.”
